


Romeo: Right Claw of the Dragon King

by chaosphoenix123



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-06
Updated: 2018-02-19
Packaged: 2018-05-05 04:26:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 63,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5361350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaosphoenix123/pseuds/chaosphoenix123
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Acnologia arrives in Magnolia after Tenrou determine to destroy it as a warning to all those who would dare defy him. But a act of courage from a young Romeo gives him pause. Now in exchange for sparing the town, Romeo will become one of his subordinate and a powerful dragon-slayer and is allow to return home later. Now Romeo must faces foes from all sides while dealing with his relationship with the Sky Dragon and God Slayers.   Slight AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Magnolia Town X791

The figure stood on top of the hill that overlooked the town of Magnolia on the mild summer day. To anyone who happen to be looking up that way that would have seen:

A boy who had just pass through the door into his teenage years with short purple hair and large blue eyes.

He was muscular, mostly around his abdominal, chest, and a little in his arms. He was wearing a long, black, sleeveless open jacket with orange edges, that reveal a portion of his muscular chest and held closed around his waist by an orange sash, tied by a knot on his left hip. His legs were covered by loose, white pants reaching down below his knees, paired with low, dark laced boots. Around his neck was a white scarf adorned by a wavy motif, and he had orange bandages wrap around his arms. He was also sporting a regular size backpack sling over his left shoulder. Finally he had on around his lower back a single curved black sheath that had two handles sticking out of it on either end.

" _Wow, can't believe how much they rebuilt this place within the past seven years",_ the purple-haired boy thought to himself as a shadow passes overhead and a small silver bipedal cat with golden eyes and a claw mark across his face lands on his shoulder.

"We didn't come all this way for you to see the town from afar Romeo", the cat grumble while staring straight ahead, "Lets get going."

"Can't I stop for a moment Bana, and take in the sight?", Romeo asked, "The last time I saw this place it was up in flames, and a large number of the buildings were reduced to rubble."

"Master was benevolent enough to allow you to make this place our base of operations where we'll be receiving missions from here on out", Bana reminded Romeo.

"You and I both know the real reason why he allowed me to work out of Magnolia", Romeo chuckle darkly, "It's to make sure I know firsthand what at stake whenever an assignment comes my way from now on."

Bana nods his head, "You refuse a mission he destroys Magnolia, you fail a mission he destroys Magnolia. Yes, I'm fully aware of the Master's extremely high standards. Which is all the more reason for you to stop staring and start preparing."

Romeo turns to look at Bana with an annoyed look, he then points toward the center of the city.

"See that building in the middle of town?", Romeo asks.

Bana searches for a moment in the direction Romeo was pointing to before nodding his head, "Look like a church, what of it?"

"That Kardia Cathedral, the same place where Natsu-nii, Gajeel, Laxus, Ezra, and "Mystogan" fought during the Battle for Fairy Tail seven years ago. Despite having three S-Class mages and two powerful Dragon-Slayers fighting within it walls it was still standing afterward. I saw Acnologia plowed through that entire building like it was a piece of cardboard turning it into a pile of rocks in a blink of an eye. What his body didn't destroy, his whipping tail did", Romeo started to explain, "He didn't even slow down as he did it, he just kept going. He probably didn't even consider it an inconvenience."

"Okay, what-" Bana started to ask.

"That park over there to the south part of town", Romeo interrupted while pointing once again to which Bana frowned and look, "That's where the annual Blossom-Viewing Festival is held every year. The whole town would gather there to watch the Rainbow Sakura trees glow into the colors of the rainbow. Fairy Tail use to hold a party while waiting for the trees to change colors along with a bingo tournament. That where Acnologia landed when he descended that day, landing with such force that he created a crater that envelope the entire park and turned all the trees to splinters."

"Romeo this is pointless-", Bana tried again.

"And if you look to the north you'll see it", Romeo contiune on, not evening hearing Bana at this point, "There stand the guild hall of the former most powerful guild in Fiore, Fairy Tail. I seen so many large scale brawls break out in that place that I lost count. It has withstood those fights, the Magic Council, and even attacks from other guilds. Yet the day he arrived, all it took was a single tail swipe to bring it all crashing down while all I could do was watch in horror."

Romeo was quiet for a moment afterward as he contiune to look upon his home, "I barely had time to get down from the top of it before Acnologia came smashing thru it when he first arrived in Magnolia.

"Romeo...", Bana said before...

"But look at it all now, the guild hall, the cathedral, the park, everything have been rebuild to what it once was. This town has been reborn and is living proof that anyone can bounce back from hard times", Romeo said as he turned to look at Bana.

"And that what you're here to do?", Bana asked, "I still finding it hard to believe that the Master is allowing you to join a mage guild, let alone one that lost its own original guild hall."

"Natsu-nii, Wendy-nee, and the rest of them are gone, I have learned to accept that. Fairy Tail has lost all of its heavy hitters thanks to Acnologia, and because of that the guild has dropped down to being the weakest on the entire continent. But now I'm here and I been trained by the most powerful dragon alive. With you by my side Bana we'll bring Fairy Tail back to its former glory. That why we're here", Romeo boasted with pride, "We'll do the assignments given to us by Acnologia, and we'll also make Fairy Tail the pride of Fiore once again and reclaim the old guild hall."

" _And maybe one day in the I'll be strong enough to...",_ Romeo thinks to himself before Bana's voice shakes him out of his thoughts.

"Just remember that Fairy Tail the reason why you were trained and are now owned by Master Acnologia.", Bana pointed out, "I advise that you don't forget that."

Romeo's face takes on an emotionless expression as he starts to remembers all the pain he was put through over the last seven years as part of his training. The vicious beatings, the hellish exercise routine, and him having to go extended periods of time without food or sleep. All so Acnologia could mold him into a weapon ready to be unleash upon his enemies.

But then a smile comes across his face as he remembers the day that started it all over seven years ago…

"I can't really blame Natsu-nii and the others for that. After all it was Acnologia they were up against", Romeo chuckled as he started walking down the hill toward Magnolia, "And after all I was the one who hit the Dragon King."

**A/N: More coming later, along with fight scenes, Bana's story, and what Romeo carrying on his waist and in the bag, also Romeo's training with Acnologia, though some ideas on some extreme training routine would be nice.**

**Bana (older than Happy and Carla, but younger than Panther lily)**

**Omake:**

Romeo: What in the F**king bag?!

Me: Has he been watching Se7en?

Bana : Maybe?

Me: Goddamn it.

Next up in Chapter 2: Reunions.


	2. Reunions

**Chapter 2**

**Reunions**

As Romeo strolls through Magnolia with Bana on his shoulder he happens to notice the strange looks he was receiving from the locals, and through his Dragon-Slayer hearing was able to pick up on their hush whispers:

"Who is that boy?"

"He came from outta town."

"Awfully young to have travel here by himself."

"Does he look familiar to you?"

"I know right? I swear I seen him somewhere before."

"Is that a cat on his shoulder?"

" _Doesn't no one really recognize me?",_ Romeo thought to himself while Bana look around on top of his shoulder, " _I get that the town is large but come on."_

"It would seem this town doesn't remember you from seven years ago", he whispered to Romeo.

"I wasn't expecting a welcome party but I at least thought someone would recognize me, I mean have I change that much?", Romeo asked.

"You were a weak scrawny boy when I first met you", Bana pointed out.

"And what am I now?"

"A taller weak scrawny boy."

"I hate you sometimes, Bana."

"I know."

As the duo contiune to walk down the town main road, Romeo was taking in the sight at all the old buildings before finally coming to the cathedral. As Romeo looks upon the towering structure he once again reminded about the strength of the Dragon King as he remembers standing at the edge of the church's square when Acnologia ram through the stone walls sending rock and glass debris flying everywhere, crushing some nearby townsfolk in the process.

But he shakes the thought away as he moves on to the first stop on his homecoming tour…

The Former Guild Hall of Fairy Tail.

"Seem they rebuild the place over the years", Romeo said aloud as he walk up to the front door where he notices a chain lock, the windows all boarded up, and a sign saying " **FORECLOSURE. KEEP OUT** ".

"Huh, is that right?", Romeo whispered as he put a hand on the one of the hilts of the sheath. The sound of a blade leaving the hilt, follow by the noise of metal slicing through metal, and finally the sound of a blade returning to its sheath are heard within the span of a blink of an eye.

As the chain falls to the ground, Romeo pushes the door open.

"You know this counts as trespassing right?", Bana asked on top of Romeo's shoulder.

"And since when does that bother you?", Romeo asked back as he enter the hall and is greeted by darkness.

"I could use **Soul Eyes,** but that be a waste", Romeo mumbles out loud as his hand started to gather a blue/whitish energy around it. Soon the a large part of the interior was lit and Romeo and Bana were able to get a better look at the place.

And the memories all came rushing back to him upon doing so as Romeo remembers the brawls, the celebrations, the contests, and just the regular days when everyone would gather and enjoy each other company.

As he sits down at the bar he remember how everyone would come here and order a drink or food for Mira and she already have it whip up right at that moment. How Cana use to drink entire barrels of the booze and how his dad would say he couldn't have any until he was older all the time.

"Oh, crap! I got to go see how dad doing after all these years!", Romeo yells as he hop off the chair and starting walking to the door.

"Finally I thought you were going to sit here all day and cried about the good times all da-" Bana started to complain before suddenly stopping in place. Romeo picked up on this and notices that his eyes were scanning the floor.

"Bana, what wrong?"

"I don't know", Bana answered while still looking, "I just felt for a moment an immense unnatural magic source for a moment underneath us. It was there for a moment and then it was gone."

Romeo arcs an eyebrow at this as he looks down. He was well aware that Bana has a sixth sense in sensing magic of a certain nature, but this caught him off-guard.

"Only thing below us far as I remember is the basement where they kept more barrels", Romeo stated, "You must be imagining things."

And with that Romeo started walking to the doors with Bana slowly walking behind him as he kept looking down at the wooden tiles.

" _I know I felt something just now, but what was it?"_

**Outside the old Fairy Tail Guild Hall**

As the duo stroll out onto the sidewalk he headed into the direction of his old home hoping that his father was there.

"Man, what do I say to him after all these years?", Romeo wondered aloud, "I just can't say hi how it going, can I?"

"You're getting too sentimental about this Romeo", Bana chimed in while sitting on his shoulder, "You go there, you say hi, you start getting ready for whatever assignment comes your way."

"Can you throttle back on the whole mission mode you're in right now", Romeo asked as he was getting closer and closer to his home all the while trying to fight down the anxious feeling in his chest.

Next thing he knows he standing in front of a two story building that was identical to the rest up and down the block but for him he could spot it from a distance if he had too.

…

…

…

"How long are you just going to stand here and stare at the door? Though I will admit it is a lovely door."

Romeo ignores Bana and walks slowly to the door and lifts his hand up, preparing to knock on it…

And kept it there for awhile.

"You know what? Fuck it, I'm getting tired of this shit", Bana complains as he proceed to knock loudly on the door causing Romeo's eyes to widen in shock.

"Why would you do that?!", he screamed.

"So you can get this sassy reunion out of the way, so I can get on with life! Grows some balls Romeo!", Bana ranted.

And so Romeo waited for the inevitable conformation…

And waited…

And waited...

"Romeo", Bana started, "Did it ever cross that feeble mind of yours that your dad might not be home at this time?"

Romeo could only chuckle nervously at the question, "I figure he might be home the day I came back."

"Oh yes because we so send word ahead of time that you were coming back to Magnolia today", Bana said in an extremely sarcastic tone.

"Well maybe he next door at Uncle Wakaba's house. Lets try there", Romeo suggested as he walk over to the Mine's household and proceed to knock on the door.

"Coming", a feminine voice called out from behind it.

"Huh, that must be Lindsay. Wonder how she been", Romeo thought as he remember his friend from next door and all the times they spent together. From attending each other birthdays to always hanging out at the guild.

Suddenly the doors open up to reveal a blonde girl with a half bitten apple in her hand and a confuse look on her face staring at Romeo.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

"Hey Lindsay, how it been? I'm looking for my dad. You know where he might be at?", Romeo said as Bana facepalm himself.

She gives him a quizzical look before saying…

"First of all how do you know my name? I never seen you before. Second who your dad?" she asked.

"Macao Conbolt. It me, Romeo." he says as he points to himself, "The boy who use to live next door to you little over seven years ago."

Seconds pass in complete silence before Bana commented…

"And there goes a perfectly good apple", as it fell to the ground and Lindsay's eyes widen at the revelation.

"R-R-Romeo?", Lindsay manages to stuttered out moments later.

"Yeah. How it goin-", is all he had time to say before he was enveloped in a bone-crushing hug and the high-pitch sound of squeaking nearly blows his eardrums out.

"ROMEO YOU'RE BACK!", echoes throughout the neighborhood as even Bana falls to the ground hands hard-pressed against his ears and a look of pain etch on his face.

"Oh my god! When did you get back?! How did you get back?! Did you escape?! How did you escape?!", were the questions being thrown at him as he struggle for air.

"Lindsay...can't...breathe", Romeo gasps as he struggles to escape the hold.

"Oh god sorry about that!", as she lets go of him.

"That better", Romeo remarks as he catches his breath, "Now as I was saying, how you been Lindsay?"

Lindsay just stares at Romeo for a moment before are eyes start to tear up and this time she envelope Romeo in a much more softer hug. As the droplets started to fall to the ground beneath them Lindsay started to speak, though to Romeo it sounded like she was struggling to.

"T-T-The last time I saw you was more than seven years ago flying away on top of that monster that destroyed Magnolia", she sobbed, "I-I-I watch you fly away until I couldn't see you anymore and even afterward I just kept watching, hoping that everything that happen was just a bad dream and I was going to wake up and everything would be fine. But you didn't come back, and I was sure you were gone forever."

"And now I'm back", Romeo pointed out trying to calm her down, "So there is no reason for you to cry right now."

"That a pretty lame thing to say after being gone for so long", Lindsay cried though her attitude was starting to get better.

"Well I'm a little lost in what to said in this situations", Romeo chuckled.

"So how you do it?", Lindsay asked.

"How I did what?", Romeo replied.

"How you escape from the dragon?"

"What are you talking about? I didn't-Oh wait a minute", Romeo says finally catching on to what Lindsay must have been thinking.

"Lindsay", Romeo started to explain, "This is a little awkward to say, but I didn't escape from Acnologia."

"What are you talking about?", Lindsay asked as a confuse expression appear on her face, "You being here obviously mean you escape somehow. Why else would you be here? It not like the dragon let you go?"

"Yes, please explain to your friend the reason why you're here. I can't wait to hear this.", Bana who finally recover from the scream said as he stood behind the two with his arms folded and a smirk on his face.

" _Gods damn you Bana",_ Romeo thinks as he shoots a glare at the exceed.

"Hey Romeo who the cat?", Lindsay asks as he eyes Bana up and down.

"He my exceed companion/partner", Romeo states while preparing for what was to come next.

"Exceed companion?", Lindsay repeats as she arches an eyebrow, "I remember my old man saying something about how some of the members who went to Tenrou had them as partners, but he also said that they were… all… dragon… slayers", as shocked realization finally dawns on her and she slowly turns her head to get a better look at Romeo who was now smiling, only to see the distinctive traits that all Dragon-Slayers shared: slitted pupils within his dark blue eyes and the sharp canine-like teeth in his smile.

"Romeo, are you a-" as she points from Romeo to Bana and then back to Romeo.

"Allow me to reintroduce myself", Romeo began as he crosses his arms over his chest in a badass manner, "I'm Romeo Conbolt and I'm the First Generation Apocalypse Dragon-Slayer. Trained by the Dragon King Acnologia himself."

The sound of birds chirping in the trees nearby are all that is heard for a time before…

"Timber", Bana grumbles as he step to the side to make room for Lindsay who promptly faints backward. She almost to the ground before Romeo moves with amazing speed and catches her.

"Well that went better then expected. I thought she would freak out at the very least" Romeo chuckled while cradling Lindsay effortlessly and moving her inside, "Can't wait to see how my old man takes the news. He'll probably have a heart attack."

**Near the forest outside of Magnolia**

"Are you sure you're okay?", Romeo asked as the trio walked out of Magnolia toward the forest where the new Fairy Tail Guild Hall was located.

"Yeah I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be fine?" Lindsay replied in a nervously craze sort of way, "My friend who I thought I would never see again turns up at my doorstep telling me that not only was he trained by the monster that destroyed most of our town, but that he now working for him as his evil minion."

"I prefer the term subordinate if you don't mine." Romeo interjected, "It make me sound less evil."

"Whatever! You're still working for him!", Lindsay hollered.

"It not like I had much of a choice. It was either that or he would have kill me and gone back to completely destroy Magnolia", Romeo argued.

"And what exactly do you do for him? The dragon I mean", Lindsay asked.

"Whatever he wants me to do", Romeo stated, "But nothing major."

"Like what?", Lindsay pry.

"Recon, information gathering, you know the light stuff", Romeo answer hoping that would satisfy her.

"That it? Those swords on your back say otherwise", as she pointed to the sheath, "And what in the bag?"

"Don't worry about the bag, as for the swords though, I was train to defend myself and for me they're mostly use for intimidation. Acnologia has other subordinates who handle all the heavy stuff like killing and torture", Romeo said.

"You know any of those guys?"

The question causes Romeo to stop in his tracks as he tries to come up with a response as Bana looks on.

"Yeah I know a few of them. Two of them I know all too well", as his voice takes on a serious tone.

"What are they like?"Lindsay asked.

"You are asking questions that are best left unanswered Lindsay", Romeo remarks looking directly into her eyes as he tells her this, "The less you know the better, trust me."

"You were gone for seven years Romeo. Forgive me if I want to know what you been through", Lindsay countered.

Romeo's face darken at the statement, "You don't want to know what I been through, but to answer your question, most of those other "minions" as you put are straight up monsters."

"And what about the two you know all too well? What about them?"

"One… is a sadistic psychopath, who smile can make a man's blood run cold. I have seem him do… terrible things in the name of Acnologia, laughing all the while. The other one is just... something else. He rarely talks, is extremely deadly, and is fearlessly loyal to Acnologia, that the best way I can describe him. What even worse is how both of them are my superiors in every way. Stronger, faster, deadlier. Their magic could easily overpower mine without them even trying, and their weapons skills far surpass my own."

"So they're two more dragon-slayers like you?"

"Correct, they also use dragon-slayer magic.", Romeo said before thinking for a moment, "There actually three of them."

"Three?", Lindsay questions.

"I have never met the third one", Romeo replies, "Neither have Bana or even the other two have so much as seen him. Some of the other "minions" think he might just be a myth, but Acnologia himself has never denied his existence, he hasn't acknowledge now that I think about it."

"Did you meet any of these other dragon-slayers while you were gone?"

"That enough questions for now", Bana interrupted, "Lets get to this guild hall of yours."

"Right, sorry for taking your time Romeo. You're probably anxious to see your father," Lindsay said as she started walking again, "It been an eventful day and there been a lot to take in."

"Hope you come to grips with it soon cause you're going to have to get use to having me around, in and outside the guild", Romeo said.

"What do you mean?"

"What you think? I'm joining Fairy Tail like you did", Romeo said while pointed to the red guild mark on Lindsay's left shoulder.

"What?! And the dragon is just going to let you do that?! Don't you need his permission or something?!", Lindsay questions.

"He doesn't care whatsoever.", Romeo answered.

"Really?", Lindsay asked once again.

"When Romeo requested to be located to Magnolia he also ask if he could join Fairy Tail. The master, feeling generous at the moment granted it, with some conditions", Bana said.

"And those were?" Lindsay inquired.

"Half of my money from a job goes back to Acnologia, missions assignment from him supersede any job that I'm currently doing, and I will always complete a job no matter what.", Romeo said as he looks at the ground, "Acnologia does not tolerate failure, no matter what the reason."

"Indeed he does not", Bana agreed.

"And what your story?", Lindsay asked Bana, "How did you come to serve the dragon?"

"I rather keep my past to myself, but I will tell you that the master save my life when I was on the verge of death. He could have just left me alone to die, but he must have saw that I was worth more to him alive and decided to healed me. I have since sworn loyalty to him and followed his orders to my utmost fullest", Bana explained causing Lindsay to stare at him while Romeo rolled his eyes.

"What-" Lindsay started to say

"Please! For the love of the gods, just don't ask", Romeo interrupted, "His whole loyalty toward Acnologia gets more annoying every time I hear it."

"Hmmph", Bana gruff, "You should be more grateful to the master for accepting you as his pupil. He spare your village, took you in and molded you into a force to be reckon."

"At the cost of my childhood and sanity", Romeo whispers.

"What was that?", Lindsay inquired.

"Nothing", Romeo quickly answered, "Moving on to more important matters, how my dad been these past years? I mean how well did he take my…leaving."

Lindsay hesitated to answer his question for a moment and Romeo is quick to pick up on this. Stopping dead in his tracks he turn to listen to her reply.

"He… fine, yeah he fine. Of course he was heartbroken over the whole ordeal, but he recovered", Lindsay said before laughing nervously.

"You're lying", Romeo flatly accuse.

"What?!" Lindsay yelled in surprise, "What do you mean I'm lying?!"

"Your heart rate increase while you were answering my question. Even though you didn't break eye contact with me that was more than enough proof to tell me that you're hiding something from me", Romeo told her as he narrow his eyes at her, "So what is it?"

"Since when can you people heartbeats? Can all dragon-slayers do that?"

"All dragon-slayers have heighten hearing, but I was trained to focus my hearing though", Romeo answered.

"Huh?"

"Stop avoiding the question and answer me please", Romeo demanded.

Lindsay lets out a sigh, "Fine, everything hasn't been fine since that day. The guild's membership and our ranking plummeted after the attack. Almost everyone was afraid that he would come back so they just left. Only a few members remain now and your dad took up the mantle and became the fourth guild master."

Romeo's eyes widen at this new piece of information, "I knew about how Fairy Tail fell to last place in Fiore guild rankings, but I didn't know about my dad becoming the new master."

"He been taking it very serious, he doesn't even drink anymore", Lindsay told Romeo…

"YOU LIE WOMAN!", Romeo suddenly scream as he points his finger at her in an accusing manner, "THERE NO WAY MY OLD MAN WOULD GIVE UP ON BOOZE JUST LIKE THAT! IF ANYTHING HE WOULD HAVE DROWN HIMSELF IN IT AFTERWARD!"

"Your dad change Romeo after that day", Lindsay calmly told him in a sadden voice despite her initial surprise from the outburst, "Neither my father or I have seen him so much as pick up a mug since the day you were taken."

Romeo was silent for a long time, wondering if his "leaving" was really the reason his dad stop drinking.

"In any case it best you see for yourself how much things have change", Lindsay recommended as she started walking again, "Come on, the new guild hall just ahead."

"Romeo?", Bana asked, "Are you alright?"

"It fine, lets get going", Romeo answered and the trio contiune on in complete silence for the rest of the walk.

**Fairy Tail Guild Hall**

"Oh by the gods this place is a dump.", Bana pointed out.

And Romeo couldn't even disagree with him.

Compare to the grand guild hall in Magnolia the one in the forest just seem… mediocre at best.

"I didn't think it be this bad", Romeo confess.

"Wait until you see how many people are left", Lindsay said as she walked to the doors before stopping, "Oh that's right I just remember. Lamia Scale and Blue Pegasus are here today."

"Why are those guys here?", Romeo asked.

"They're the reason why Fairy Tail is even allow to exist as a guild. Thanks to their support we're able to keep jobs flowing our way, and your father a position at the Annual Guild Master meeting", Lindsay explained.

"Really now? I guess I should be grateful", Romeo stated.

"Though there is something you should know", Lindsay's voice taking on a serious tone.

"And what that?", Romeo question.

"There a certain member in Lamia Scale you should watch out for. She constantly searching for new opportunities to impressed their Ice-Make mage, even going as far as challenging and defeating every member we have, including your father, my father, and even myself", as Romeo notices her voice get a little more harsh at that last part of her statement.

"This girl sounds like Juvia", Romeo said thinking back to all the antics the water mage would do to get Gray's attention.

"Probably just as bad and she around our age", Lindsay agreed, "But the most dangerous thing about her is the fact that uses Sky God-Slayer magic."

"She a God-Slayer?", Romeo asked cause up till that statement he was just casually shrugging off anything Lindsay was saying about this girl. But now that she revealed that she a god-slayer, now this really got his attention.

Along with Bana as well who was just ignoring everything Lindsay was saying until just a moment ago.

"Romeo", Bana he said looking at the boy.

"I know", Romeo nodded, "Been a good two years since we face the Ice God-Slayer in the country of Iceberg."

"You face a God-Slayer before?", Lindsay asked amaze at what Romeo was saying.

"Yeah you could say that.", Romeo replied.

"Wow", was all she had to say.

"Well I'm not going to see how much everything change just by standing here", Romeo points out as he open the guild doors…

And was shocked by what he saw.

" _Wow, she was not joking about everything changing",_ Romeo thought shocked at what he was seeing.

From Reedus becoming skinny to Nab and Droy becoming fat, along with seeing Bisca and Alzack holding a small girl that resemble the both of them. With all that and more it was almost too much for Romeo to handle. And the fact that he was quickly able to assess all this within a span of about ten seconds was proof of how much his training with Acnologia had changed him. He also notice a pink-haired girl around his age with the Lamia Scale guild symbol looking lovestruck at some silver-haired mage, but that wasn't important at the moment.

But what was important was the man standing at the bar at the back of the guild hall.

" _Never expected the old man to have a mustache",_ Romeo thought as he watch his father talk business with the Blue Pegasus and Lamia Scale head representatives.

"If we keep doing nothing but joint jobs with your guilds, no one will ever think that Fairy Tail can stay on it own two feet again!", Macao Conbolt argued.

"Men… Please calm down Mr. Conbolt...men. This is all for Fairy Tail benefits", Ichiya tells him.

"He right. We are doing this so Fairy Tail can get back on its feet", The Ten Wizard Saints Jura agreed.

Lindsay looks over and see that Romeo was still a little shocked by what he was seeing and decided to help.

" Seeing how this is a lot to take in all of a sudden, wait here while I go talk to him."

As she walked over to the group, Bana was taken back a little on how no one seem to pick up on their presence yet. Everyone was too busy indulge in their own little conversations.

" _That odd, has no one truly notices us at all? This could be bad for a guild if their not more attentive",_ he thought, " _I'll have to do something about that."_

As Lindsay approaches the bar, the little girl that Romeo saw earlier manage to get away from her parents while they were giving Sherry marriage advice and walked over to Romeo.

"Hiya mister!", she said completely catching him off-guard, "I'm Asuka. What your name?"

While Romeo looks down at her and thinks about his answer…

" _Holy crap. Now that I'm here and dad standing right in front of me, what do I say?"_ Romeo thought as the feeling of anxiety he felt earlier was back only this time around it was way stronger.

"Mr. Conbolt. Can I see you for a moment?", Lindsay asked while the Fourth master was still talking to Ichiya and Jura.

"Not now Lindsay dear, I'm busy right now", Macao said without even turning to look at her.

"Honey can't you see he busy right now? What is it?", Wakaba asked while walking up to the group.

"A certain someone wants to join Fairy Tail", Lindsay said while pointing in Romeo's direction.

Macao spares a quick glance, and goes right back to talking.

"Great another kid who grew up hearing tales of our glorious past. I hate to disappoint the boy, but Fairy Tail not what it use to be", Macao groan.

"No you don't understand! That boy over there is-", is all she has time to say before…

"Hi Asuka, nice to meet you. As for who I am, I'm The Fourth Master's son Romeo Conbolt."

…

…

…

It was like at that very moment everyone forgot how to breath as they all stop what they were doing and turn their heads toward Romeo who was started to tear up a little.

"Hey guys, how it been?" he ask as he looked around the room before finally resting his eyes on the guild master who look like he was going to have a heart attack.

"It...It…It can't be", was all Macao could muster up.

"But it is", Romeo said trying to keep himself to together but failing miserably as the tears fell to the ground like rain, "It me Romeo, your little boy."

Romeo doesn't rememeber his dad moving. All he remembers is being engulfed in his arms and hearing his sobs echo throughout the guild hall.

**A/N: Not going to lie I kind of suck at these reunions parts. Next chapter Romeo vs. Chelia. And who are these other dragon-slayers.**

**Chapter 3: Power of the Wind vs. Power of the End: Dragon-Slayer vs. God-Slayer.**


	3. Power of the Wind vs Power of the End

Chapter 3

The Wind vs. The End

Both father and son embraces one another for a time before finally pulling away.

"Romeo how?" Macao began to talk even with tears still coming down his face, "How are you here right now?"

Romeo became uneasy at the question, but he hopes his dad will wait until they're somewhere private before answering.

"Dad, I promise I'll answer any questions you have later", Romeo starts to say before pointing to Bana, "But first I want to introduce you to someone."

Macao looks to where Romeo is pointing and finally becomes aware of the exceed's presence.

"Is that a-", Macao starts to ask as his eyes go wide upon recognizing what Bana was.

"Bana, my exceed companion and mentor", Romeo finishes, "He was assigned to me when I started learning the basics of Dragon-Slayer magic", Romeo stated knowing full well what was coming next.

Every soul other than Lindsay within the guild hall goes quiet for the moment, and a certain pink hair ponytail teenager finally stops paying attention to the oblivious ice-mage and looks over at Romeo in interest.

"Did he say dragon-slayer magic?" she thinks to herself as this once boring trip to Fairy Tail suddenly became a lot more interesting to her.

Macao turns his wide eyes back toward Romeo who now pointing at his eyes and his teeth…

"Timmmmmberrrrrr", Bana says for the second time that day as Macao faints onto Romeo who sighs and lays him down carefully while the rest of the guild hall, (except Chelia and Lindsay), yell out…

"WHAT?!"

"At least he didn't have a heart attack like I thought he would, I can count my blessing for that." Romeo thinks as a panicking Kinana and Wakaba see to his father.

**Ten Minutes and a lot of face-slapping later**

"Are you sure you're okay Macao?" a concerned Wakaba asks while helping his oldest friend into a nearby chair.

"I'll be fine", Macao replies while holding his hand on his head, "It just one surprise after another today. First it was the news of how they're having an emergency Guild Masters meeting next month, to seeing my son once again, and finally finding out that he the Apocalypse Dragon-Slayer, trained by Acnologia himself. It's just a lot to take in."

"I was hoping to catch you at home so I could tell you in private, but Lindsay told me you were here", Romeo said while scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

"Oh", Wakaba said, "And how did she take the news? I'm assuming you told her before you came here seeing how she wasn't surprise when you announce it."

"Eh, she also passed out for a while", Romeo casually said while doing his best to ignore the heated glare the girl in question was sending him and being more concern with the look the suppose God-Slayer was sending him from her table across the room.

"She must be contemplating whether or not I'm the real deal", Romeo thought knowing full well thanks to the past seven years how God-Slayers feel about any slayers other than themselves, be it Dragon, Demon, Devil, Phoenix, Spirit, or even other God-Slayers. They pride themselves on believe their magic can bring down a god, thus thinking themselves the strongest amongst slayers.

"Though devil, phoenix, and spirits slayers are extremely rare to find. I believe not even the other two have even met more than one of each and they been with Acnologia way longer than I have", Romeo thought as he notice the girl was getting up from her table and proceed toward him while his Macao was still being seen by Kinana.

"Romeo", Bana on his shoulder whispered.

"Let's play this by ear Bana. I don't want to be the one to start a fight, especially with all the stuff my dad been going thru today." Romeo whispers back.

Bana simply nods his head as the girl finally stops in front of them and extends a hand.

"Hi! I'm Chelia Blendy, Sherry Blendy's cousin", she says with a smile on her face that made Bana want to gag.

Romeo looks down at her hand for a moment while his mind races…

"What is she playing at?" Romeo thought before taking her hand and giving it a firm shake, "Romeo Conbolt, Fairy Tail's Fourth Guild Master son."

"Oh, so you're the kid who was taken by Acnologia all those years ago after he attack Magnolia", Chelia said in a surprise voice.

"Yes that was me", Romeo said back.

"It must have been a horrify experience for you. Taken away from your family, force to trained underneath the tutelage of the one that ravage your home", Chelia sympathetically pointed out.

"It wasn't pleasant if that what you're trying to get across", Romeo said while starting to get a little annoyed, "But I survived."

"And you learn Dragon-Slayer magic on top of that, quite an extraordinary feat", she kept going on as if she was an expert, "Though it's too bad you couldn't learn a different type of magic." She lets out a small sigh jokingly.

"So that what she doing. Irking me on", Romeo thought while keeping his cool, "Two can play that game."

"What wrong with me learning Dragon-Slayer magic? Like you said it not like I had a choice in the matter", Romeo stated.

"Now wait a minute", Chelia said leaning away to ease the tense, "Didn't mean to make you angry. I'm just saying that it a shame that you couldn't learn a more powerful magic from such a terrifying dragon."

"You mean like your God-Slayer magic", Romeo pointed out as he saw for a split second her eyes go wide in surprise before returning to normal.

"Oh, so you heard about that?" Chelia asked, "Well I'm not one to brag, but yes God-Slayer magic is a much more powerful magic to have learn."

"Sadly I wasn't taken by the God of the Apocalypse", Romeo said though there was a hint of sarcasm in his voice that did not go unnoticed by Chelia, "But you're welcome to explain to me why God-Slayer magic is superior to Dragon-Slayer magic."

By this time the whole guild hall, including Macao and Kinana who was treating him, stopped what they were doing and were now listening in on the conversation between the two slayers. But while everyone else was interested in what they were saying a certain Ten Wizard Saint had other thoughts.

" _This could be bad. I seriously hope Chelia is not looking to provoke a fight with this young man like she has the other Fairy Tail members. She needs to remember that they're an allied guild_." Jura thought disheartened at her thirst to show her superiority as a god-slayer, "Also the Magic Council is sure to catch wind of the boy's return and the magic he learned. No doubt an investigate will be launch to find out what happen to him over the course of the seven years he had been gone."

Jura being a powerful and experience mage that he was, was also able to pick up on the magic auras of the two slayers. Chelia's aura was acting the way it normally does, smooth and calm, but Jura knew better. His best comparison would be that her mood was parallel with that of an eye of the storm, peace and quiet for the moment but able to unleash a tremendous force within moments.

But the boy's aura was something he never felt before. It almost seem… bottle up. Like something was keeping the boy from unleashing his full power, a seal or barrier of some sort. The boy has great power, he could easily rival Chelia if not surpass her, but if he was to unleash his full power here and now, he wouldn't be able to reach his maximum potential in that moment.

If he had to put it to words it would be that of a mighty explosion that was trying to be kept within a small bottle.

" _Hmm… I need to witness his magic first hand before I can come to any conclusion. Maybe, as long as it doesn't get too out of hand, a spar between Fourth Master's son and Chelia wouldn't be a bad thing. It could humble the girl and allow me to see for myself just how strong the boy truly is_ ", Jura thought as he turn his attention back to the conversation the teenagers were having which has now seem to have intensify if Chelia's facial expression was anything to go by, " _On second thought maybe that's not such a great idea."_

"What do you mean I'm not a real slayer?" Chelia question with a slight threaten tone in her voice.

"Actually I said neither one of us can be consider a real slayer seeing how I haven't slay a dragon yet, and as far as I know you haven't slayed a god", Romeo answered with an ease in his voice, disregarding the growing hostile change in the atmosphere around the pink-hair girl."

"Shouldn't we stop this?" Wakaba whispers to Macao, "This could get out of hand."

Before Macao could answer Bana, who move to a nearby table as the conversation between Romeo and Chelia drag on, spoke up…

"I must highly suggest against that", the exceed says as both guild master and guild master's adviser turn their heads toward him, "Trust me when I say that Romeo is more than capable of handling this." "Beside" Bana smiled a little, "this will be good practice for him."

"Practice for what?" Macao ask wondering what Bana was talking about, but he didn't answer so Macao just decide to ask him later and turn his attention back to the two teenagers...

"So tell me Chelia", Romeo said, "Can you really call yourself a God-Slayer when you haven't even slay a god let alone met one? I mean I met a dragon and so has most the people in Magnolia."

Lindsay could swear that she saw shadowy winds start to whirl around Chelia as the girl look down at Romeo with barely restrained fury. Chelia has already somehow spurred the rest of the guild, into fighting her with ease with stuff like how Fairy Tail has fallen, and where their Fairy Tail pride was if they wouldn't fight her, (she got Lindsay by making a snide remark at the Ash-Make/ Smoke mage chest size in comparison to her own pair). But this was the first time she gotten angry herself.

Romeo completely turn the tables on her with his comment on how she was not a real slayer, and how god-slayer magic isn't all that special.

"Enough Chelia! This little squabble has gone on long enough. I kept silent when you challenge the rest of Fairy Tail, but I will not permit you to disturb the reunion between Guild Master Macao and his son. Now stand down!" Jura demanded.

Chelia reluctantly admitted defeat and turn away from Romeo who merely watch her go…

"Ah that too bad Jura-sensei", Lyon complained, "I was hoping to see a duel between slayers."

"I would have won regardless, Lyon-sama", Chelia mumbled forgetting that Romeo had heighten senses that included hearing.

"I doubt that", he call back as she stopped in her tracks, "If anything you barely be considered a warm-up for me." Romeo gave her a fanged smirk that sparked her short fuse.

Apparently the cocky attitude is a given with male dragon-slayers.

Chelia was back in his face within a heartbeat of him saying that, staring him down with black winds swirling around her hands…

"Say that again", she threaten.

"Oh, I'm sorry my mistake", Romeo said and then cleared his throat loudly before speaking up, "I meant to say that you wouldn't even be consider a warm-up for me", Romeo repeated himself while looking her dead in the eyes and engulf his own hands in a brilliant blue and white mixture of light.

As the two square off in the middle of the guild hall everyone is staring in amazement at the magic power that both slayers are giving off…

"Holy crap!" Wakaba yelled, "Do you feel that Macao?! They're just charging their hands up and I can feel it from here!"

But Macao is speechless at the sight in front of him…

"Hey dad!" Romeo yells out loud without breaking eye contact with Chelia, "How about this be my entry exam into Fairy Tail?"

Macao finally snaps out of his shock upon hearing Romeo's request.

"What?! Romeo if you wanted to join Fairy Tail all you had to do was say so!" Macao answered.

"Nah too easy! This will be way more fun!", as both teens start to increase their magic and soon the whole room is fill with swirl of black winds and blinding lights.

"Now tell me old man!" Romeo yells once more as a smile appear on his face, "When can we start?"

"How about now?!" Chelia holler as points her hands at Romeo, " **Aeolus' Fury**!"

Romeo barely has time to cross his arms in front of him before Chelia released two narrow streams of darken wind at the boy, sending him flying through the open guild doors into the forest. Luckily, he back-flips midair and is able to land on all four, sliding along the ground for a couple of feet.

He stands up straight and brushes the dust off his clothes as Chelia comes out the guild hall, gathering more of the black winds around her hands as she now had more freedom outside.

"Nice shot there", Romeo complimented as he takes a battle stance, "Didn't expect you to be able to launch an attack off that quickly,"

"I'm just full of surprise as you shall soon see", Chelia bragged.

"Don't overdo it, you might break a nail", Romeo said, "And that would be devastating for your looks, princess."

"Oh you think you're being cute", Chelia said slightly annoying at the comment and proceed to increase the wind speed around her hands even more.

"Bitch I'm adorable", Romeo responded. ( **A/N: DBZ abridged for the win** )

"Watch your mouth young man!" Macao yells out.

"Guess I got to get use to that again", Romeo thought, "Not my fault I heard that type of language every day at the guild hall when I was a little kid."

" **Aeolus' Fury**!"as the god-slayer fires yet again at Romeo who proceed to focus his magic between his hands. Within moments he places both of his palm together and…

" **Apocalyptic Spiral** "as a large ball of his magic erupts from his palms, but instead of it launching toward Chelia likes everyone thought it would it just takes in his palms while creating small spinning wind currents of its own. They seem to create a wind tunnel type effect for when Chelia's attack collide with it both streams of the black current began to disperse until her attack was completely nullify.

"What the-?", was all Lindsay could say as she along with Fairy Tail, Lamia Scale, and Blue Pegasus stare slack jaw at what just happen, "She defeated Laki, Warren, and Nab with that technique and yet Romeo deflect it with ease."

But no one was more surprise than Chelia herself as her eyes widen in pure shock at the ease at which Romeo negate her attack.

"That it?" Romeo asked, "Don't tell me that the best you got."

Without warning Chelia propels herself forward toward Romeo utilizing her magic at such a high speed that most of the spectators didn't it see it happen…

" _She's fast_!" is all both Romeo and Bana have time to think before said girl lands a solid magic-infused kick on Romeo's ribcage.

"Romeo!" Lindsay screams out knowing first hand just how powerful the God-Slayer strikes because she was defeated by a solid punch to the gut in her match against her.

"Will you please calm down and stop screaming, child?" Bana asked while looking up at her from on the ground.

"What do you mean calm down?!" Lindsay panic, "She just landed a hard kick to his side!"

"That may be true, but one of the many things about fighting is that just because you land a hit doesn't mean it did something, observe", as he looked back toward the combatants.

And sure enough upon closer observation Lindsay noticed that Chelia had a pained expression on her face. Her teeth were clenched, her whole body was shaking, and it look like her face was turning red.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" echoes throughout the forest stirring the flocks of birds up along with the people in Magnolia turning their heads to the woods wondering what was that sound.

Chelia hops away on one foot while grabbing her injure foot….

"What the hell was that?!" Chelia she screamed as she moved away from Romeo who had a neutral expression on his face, "It was like I was kicking a steel wall!"

"More like a combination of iron and bone to be more precise", Romeo explained, "But I have to admit I wasn't expecting a magic-infused kick from you, guess you really are full of surprise."

But by this time Chelia was screaming a string of profanity that cause her cousin Sherry to blush and wonder where she learn it from.

"I need to have a talk with Madam Ooba about the language use within the guild hall", Sherry thought.

All the while Romeo just stood and watch Chelia sound off to the heavens…

"I'm just going to wait here until you're done", he said even though he knew she wasn't paying any attention to him, "Take your time, I'm in no hurry."

"Hey Bana?" Lindsay asked

"What is it child?" the exceed answered while not even looking back at the girl.

"What just happen? I saw her kicks send my dad and Guild Master Macao flying before, but Romeo took it like it was nothing", Lindsay stated.

"Romeo has been having a...hard time learning a certain important technique that the other Apocalypse Dragon-Slayers have. So in response the master chose an alternate ability for him until he is able to use it. It involved using an assortment of techniques taught in lands far beyond Isthagr's eastern border. It consists of a combination of bone hardening and the "Iron Shirt" technique, and it is dubbed the "Iron Bones" ability."

"More details would be nice", Lindsay says still confused.

"A please would be nice as well child", Bana responded rather gruffly.

"Fine", Lindsay huffed, "Please Mr. Bana, tell me how Romeo techniques work."

"Very well since you ask so nicely", Bana said while still looking away from her…

"The "Iron Shirt" technique is a highly advance form of magic manipulating. As I'm sure you're aware manipulating ones magic inside their body to absorb attacks is nothing new. Any mediocre mage can do it, in fact it a basic skill for most dragon-slayers even those not taught by dragons themselves. It's what allows them to take massive amount of punishment and still fight. If you combine that with the regenerative ability they get from eating their own element, they're basically a rolling boulder, capable of taking damage and dishing it out, but there is a drawback.

Basic manipulation really only protects you from pure non-magical attacks. Any strikes fused with magic will almost always deal damage regardless. While most dragon-slayers counter this by having an extremely high pain threshold or being just plain stubborn, Master Acnologia didn't want to have his dragon-slayers constantly recovering after assignments and decide to change that. To achieve this he employ the "Iron Shirt" technique alongside bone hardening for them to use until they master the "Scale Armor" spell which would give them maximum protection from both magic and non-magic strikes."

"What the Scale Armor spell?" Lindsay questioned.

"I'll get to that later, for now know that until an Apocalypse Dragon-Slayer has master Scale Armor he is force to relied on the Iron Bone ability. First off, the Iron Shirt requires hours of dedicated training every day to perfect, with controlled breathing, mental focus, and fast reflexes practice. In doing so your body is train to absorb magic-infused strikes. But this too comes with some setbacks."

"What setbacks? It seem that Romeo can take whatever Chelia dishes out", Lindsay stated.

"Only because so far he has seen her attacks coming and has had time to react to it. The downside to the Iron Shirt is that you can't have it focus all around your body at once. You basically have to focus on the point of impact where the attack going to hit. If you were to get hit from behind by a magic attack and you didn't know it was coming, the Iron Shirt is basically useless", Bana explained, "Like when the god-slayer first attack Romeo inside the guild hall. Only because Romeo saw the attack coming at the last second and put his arms up in front of him, while focus his magic into them, was he able to absorb the attack without taking a lot of damage. If he was hit from behind it most likely would have been a different story. On top of the fact that it drains his magic as he uses it, so sometimes he'll just have to take the hit to conserve magic"

"Okay that covers the magic side of the Iron Bones ability", Lindsay said while trying to wrap her brain around everything Bana just said, "What about the non-magic side?"

"The bone hardening is a rigorous and brutal training regimen which strengthen the bone tissue to the point it almost feels like your bones are made of metal. It practiced by many of the countries to the Far East", Bana states.

"And how exactly did Romeo accomplish the bone hardening technique?" Lindsay question.

This cause Bana to slowly turn around and stare up at her…

"Did you really want to know?" he asked with a darken tone.

This caught Lindsay off-guard along with catching finally Macao's attention.

"…." as Lindsay looks back down at him silently thinking to herself.

Suddenly Bana activates his Aera Magic and a pair of black wings appear on his back.

Before Lindsay could comment on this, the silver exceed flies up to eye level with her…

"Tell me child", he begins, "Have you ever heard the expression, 'Some things are best left a mystery'"?

"What did you do to Romeo?" Lindsay asks, her voice more forceful this time, which Bana found amusing.

"I didn't do anything", Bana answered, "Master Acnologia and Sage Biilet oversaw the boy's training. I merely observe."

"That doesn't answer my question", Lindsay said.

"It not my question to answer", Bana said, "If you want the whole story talk to Romeo, let him tell you how his training went."

Bana turns back around in mid-air, "It looks like the girl is done with polluting the air with her language and is ready to get back down to business. I suggest you watch child."

And sure enough Chelia had finally calm down and was now throwing a heated glare at Romeo who was trying to cover up a laugh but was failing miserably at it.

"Are you okay?" he as his laughter began to die down, "Can we continue this now or do you need to go and get bandages for your foot?"

"Oh, you're acting cute again, aren't ya?" Chelia said finally ready to pick up where they left off

"And I already told ya, bitch I'm adorable", Romeo points out.

"Fine then", Chelia said, "While I'll admit you caught me by surprise with your little hard as steel trick."

"Iron", Romeo corrected.

"Whatever, anyway I just so happen to have a counter for something like", Chelia boasted as a glittering light started to shine around her foot. Before long the light dies down and Chelia begin hopping on the supposedly injure foot without any complications, "There, good as new."

"Huh, healing magic eh?" Romeo asked, "That something new. Where did you learn this magic again?"

"If you must know Magic Council chairman Gran Doma presented me the tome contain it upon me excelling at the top of my Magic School", Chelia said with pride.

"Wait, you went to magic school? You learn this magic from a book?" Romeo laughed, "Oh man this is going to be fun."

"Ha, a book?" Chelia countered with a dangerous smile, "How ignorant can you be? My power doesn't come from some shelf in a library. There is a clear difference between you and me…" Her magic picked up again furiously and her body looked as if she hadn't been touched. "Or did you already forget about my healing magic?"

"Trust me I didn't forget", Romeo said, "In fact it makes me have to change my opinion on you."

"What? Too much for you to handle?" Chelia smiled.

"No, I just realize that you-", Romeo started to say.

"Are the toughest opponent you ever face? More than you can handle? Suddenly make you want to admit defeat?" Chelia said, "That I-"

She cut off as Romeo delivers a vicious right jab to her cheek, sending her flying back thru the air a good fifteen feet from him. As she hits the ground she rolling along it for about ten more feet before launching herself up and landing back on her feet. Her healing magic instantly take hold as once again the dazzling white light is focus on her face, but not even the light could cover up the demonic glare the pink haired God-Slayer was sending the purple haired dragon-slayer.

"As I was saying, I just realize that you ", as Romeo takes a wide fighting stance, "are going to make a great punching bag."


	4. Conclusion of the Fight

**Chapter 4**

**Conclusion of the Fight**

The sound of punches and kicks colliding with flesh rang throughout the forest as the two slayers desperately fought one another.

Despite Chelia giving it everything she got, nothing she threw at Romeo seem to have a lasting effect on him. Her attacks would land, but he didn't look fazed by them at all. While his blows on the other hand hurt like hell for a moment before her healing spell kick in, but this was starting to take a drain on her magic. But the most infuriating thing about this entire thing was….

" _HE NOT EVEN USING HIS MAGIC!"_ Chelia screamed internally.

Beside the one spiral spell he used to disrupt her attack at the beginning of the fight, Romeo has been pure hand-to-hand combat with Chelia, he wasn't even using magic-infused attacks against her or the even the blades strapped to his back, he has been sticking to hand to hand combat.

And he wasn't just throwing kicks and punches either. He was combine them with knees and elbows strikes along with the occasional headbutt stunning her.

" _Somehow my nose is still hurting from that blow, even with it healing up",_ Chelia thought as she barely sidestep yet another jumping knee kick to the face, only to have Romeo to spin around in mid-air and aim a strong heel kick to her head. Chelia brings her arm up to block, it completely shroud in black winds and was able to stop the blow, but then Romeo drops to the ground and leg sweep her feet out from under her. As she falls to the drop she able to see that Romeo was shifting to a handstand, and was in the process of setting up his heel to come down onto her gut the moment she hit the ground. Thinking quickly, she used her wind to push herself back out of the way of the hit, landing a dozen feet away from the dragon-slayer, and readies herself for another onslaught.

_**Meanwhile on the sidelines** _

"Doesn't anyone else feel like Romeo not even trying?" Jet ask the group, "He hasn't even use magic since the start of this fight."

"I know what you mean", Droy agreed, "Even though they're trading blow for blow, it feels like Romeo been gaining the upper hand easily."

"Humph" Sherry huff, "You shouldn't go and underestimate my cousin so easily. There a reason why she one of the top members of Lamia Scale at such a young age."

"She right", Lyon nodded, "Despite her young age, Chelia is going to be competing with us in the upcoming Grand Magic Games, ain't the right Jura-sensei?"

But Jura was too busy concentrating on the fight in front of him to pay attention to Lyon…

"Hmm _, it is a little disturbing that the boy has limited the use of his magic for this match. Is he doing this purposely to keep his true power a secret, or does he truly believe that he can beat Chelia through raw strength alone?"_ he wonders.

**Back to the fight**

"So tell me", Romeo in the middle of a low kick to Chelia's femur that she barely was able to jump out of the way of, "Is this your first time in a serious fight, cause I'm getting the impression that this is your first time in a serious fight."

"Are you… mocking me?" Chelia asked in between breaths. This fight was starting to take its toll on her, and the constant healing was draining her magic.

"Me? Nah, I just notice that your movements were starting to get a little sluggish that all. I remember when Wendy-nii got tired during her sparring session with Natsu-nii and Gajeel-nii, she would shallow air to replenish her strength and she was the Sky Dragon-Slayer. And seeing how you're the Sky God-Slayer I just thought that you can do the same. I am right about that, right?" Romeo states causing Chelia's face to turn red with furry. ( **A/N: God-slayer magic doesn't restore fatigue, at least Sky God Slayer magic doesn't)**

"Sh-Shut up!", she bellows in an enraged tone as she decide to go on the offensive and launches a serious of Aerola's Furies at Romeo to which he counters them all with Apocalyptic Spiral. She then launches herself at him and the two clash once again.

Chelia goes to deliver a magic-infused punch to Romeo's face only to have him bring his arm up from under hitting her in the elbow causing her to hit to miss, which left her open to a hard elbow into her gut almost knocking the wind out of her. But she recovers quickly and throw a high kick at Romeo's jaw but he step back slightly and her foot barely misses his jaw as he ducks down and find himself looking up toward her while her leg is still high in the air.

He goes wide eyed and quickly turns his head away, red in the face. Chelia goes to kick him only to stop midway as she notices his embarrassed look.

"What is it? Are you done fighting?" She asks peeved at the sudden interruption. He mumbles something under his breath while meekly scratching his cheek.

"…pink lace… your panties they're pink and…your guild mark that's a cool place to put it I guess." He coughed violently not from any physical injury but from his nerves. He seemed to grow more embarrassed at each word he spoke.

"I uh didn't mean to. Your skirt and my dodge and-" He lost his earlier composure as Chelia whose face burn rid with a mixture of anger and embarrassment could only look at him in shock.

"DIE PERVERT!" her voice echoes throughout the forest once more as she fires a barrage of black currents at the very spot where Romeo was squatting only to have them completely miss him as he back-flip away.

Slowly all of the Fairy Tail spectators turn their heads those the current Guild Master who looks back at them with a confuse look.

"What? WHAT?!" Macao ask getting annoyed while wondering why they're doing this.

"Seven years away from you and yet he still took on of your habits", Alzack mumbles.

"He is definitely his son", Bisca added while everyone else nodded their heads in agreement.

"I don't know whether to be proud of Romeo or piss off at your accusations", Macao grumbled, "And beside he looks embarrass by it!"

"At first you were too then you turn into your present self", Wakaba murmurs as Lindsay stares up at him in disbelief.

" _You're one to talk",_ She thoughts as she turns back to the action.

Chelia throws another punch at Romeo only for him to sidestep it, grab her arm and pull her in. As she is pull forward pass the boy she barely has time to comprehend the fact that Romeo was readying both his elbow and knee to bring down straight to the center of her back and gut respectively….at the same time.

The resounding crack could be heard throughout the area as the blow, from what everyone else heard, must have least crack three ribs, if not her spine.

Romeo lets the girl fall to the ground in as she scream in excruciating pain as he waited for her healing factor to kick in, which it did a few moments later. She stands back up as soon as her legs allow her to and sends a menacing glare at Romeo.

"Why didn't you finish me while I was on the ground? Are you toying with me?" she asked thru clenched teeth, "Cause you're not evening using your swords, it makes me think you aren't taking this seriously."

"I just giving you a fair chance, that all", Romeo smiled, "As for the swords..."

Romeo unstrap the sheath from his back and throw the weapon in the air toward the guild hall. As it comes twirling on the group, Bana merely holds a paw up and catches it with such ease one would think the duo practice this maneuver regularly.

"Better?" Romeo asked.

"Why you little-", Chelia sneered.

"Remember, you started this, I'm just finishing it", Romeo said as he holds his hand up, "But to make it fair since you been using so much of your magic on me, I'll start using my own magic to a certain degree."

And with that a brilliant light started to shine in front of Romeo as a combination of blue and white lights began to swirl in a hurricane-like fashion in front of his hands. After a moment the lights started to shrink until they were focusing into an orb in his palm.

" _ **Doomsday Shot"**_ as he release the light and in an instant it took the form of a short burst as it speed toward Chelia who by sidestepping it, allow it to miss her by a mere fraction though it did burn the tip of her ponytail. The shot maintain its course as it travels deep into the wood, exploding a second later in a spectacular light leaving a small size crater in it wakes.

" _Impressive power, just like I thought",_ Jura thinks as he watches on, " _I could only imagine what would happen if Chelia was hit full-on with that."_

"Holy shit that was powerful", Nab exclaimed as everyone else only look on with their mouths open in shock.

But what was catching Romeo's attention was the fact that Chelia was just standing there with her head down.

"Uh, you okay?" Romeo asked.

…

….

…..

"That is it!" Chelia roars as she engulf herself in black currents, "I have had enough of you and this mockery you are making of me! But that pales in comparison to the rage I'm feeling over the fact that you had the audacity to BURN MY HAIR! It takes an hour every morning to get it to this degree of perfection!" She began sucking in wind at such a furious rate to the point even Romeo was becoming anxious. Chelia slowly exhales with her hair shadowing over her eyes.

"It's time."

Black winds start to form around her feet and then up her body into a swirling mass as her voice screams out…

" _ **Secret Art of the Sky God-Slayer: Eurus's Endowment!"**_

"Oh this could be bad", Lyon wonders aloud.

"How bad we talking here?" Lindsay asks out of concern.

"That the only secret art she learned so far", Jura interrupted, "But this is the first time I seen her use it outside training and on a live opponent. We have yet to determine the effect it will have on a person."

They didn't have to wait long as suddenly the god-slayer comes busting out of the black wind cocoon, streaking toward Romeo at an incredible speed….

" _She even faster than before, I can't react fast enough"_ Romeo thinks before a kick collides with his gut, breaking thru his bone hardening, and sends him flying back into a nearby tree. The impact alone almost causes the tree to snap in two.

"Romeo!" Macao yells out upon seeing his son get kick like a soccer ball.

Romeo struggles to stand up as Chelia suddenly appears in front of him, black winds swirling around the entirety of her body. The look in her eyes was one he had only seen his training and he knew this fight had taken a deadly serious turn.

"I figure those make you move faster", Romeo struggles to speak, "and you also seem to be packing more of a punch now."

"You're right", Chelia acknowledges talking down at him, "They do make me stronger, faster, more durable and its help me ignore pain to a degree. The only downside is the large amount of magic it drains and I can't use my healing factor while in this stage. Now prepare for the ass-whooping of a lifetime at the hands of a true slayer."

In the blink of an eye she sent a viscous kick while he was still sitting. Romeo barely had time to register the kick aimed towards his face as he felt a short burst of intense pain and is sent hurling through the air once more, landing a good twenty away from where he started.

" _The girl is stronger than expected, Romeo may have to get more serious if he hopes to win",_ Bana, who now perch on Lindsay shoulder, thinks.

Romeo rolled onto his stomach and began to stand up while wiping the blood from his mouth. "Is that all you got?" He was trying to act confident but his shallow breathing and cut up body was telling the real story.

"No." Her tone was enough to make him regret saying something. Chelia took a wide stance bringing both of her arms in front of her.

" **Sky God's Dance."** She vanished before his eyes so he took a defensive position against a head-on attack but he could not have expected what came next. She ran at top speed circling the injured dragon-slayer creating a black tornado that he was now in the eye of. Reacting quickly he gripped onto the ground beneath him as hard as he could in an attempt to nullify her technique. His vision was blocked by the violent winds but he could hear the cracking of the ground around him.

"Boo." Chelia appeared in front of him as if she was a part of the tornado. He grit his teeth as she brought both of her hands up, but she didn't punch him into the tornado, rather slammed both of her hands down into the ground. He felt the ground shake before feeling a dangerous sense of weightlessness.

 _The ground! So that's what she was doing before!_ The tornado was now picking up the earth that Romeo was sticking to as if to say it did not matter how strong he gripped the ground there was nothing he could do if she pulled up the earth that he gripped onto. Now he was flying around the tornado at growing speeds with massive boulder of dirt and rock.

"It's not over yet!" Her voice sounded distorted through the raging winds as she appeared in the trajectory of him with her fist cocked back. He could only watch as she closed in only to seemingly miss as her fist flew right past his head. "Try not to yell out to much okay?" She gave a small fake smile before she vanished again.

 _Why not just hit me? Did she miss-_ He didn't even have to finish that thought as the first chunk of the ground she brought up into the tornado hit him in the gut. Then another hit his arm, then his leg. It wasn't long until he was constantly hit from a barrage of rocks that was now randomly flying around the tornado. It was if he was trapped in a washing machine full of rocks never letting up.

He was kite stuck in a hurricane being ripped apart.

Bana's eyes widened as he saw the fight turn the other way quickly but he was not going to intervene as he knew that Romeo was going to have to get stronger. What interested him now though was how complex Chelia's technique was. _She must have planned out this conclusion ahead of time. Beginning with the stance, if she wanted to she could have just formed a tornado to pick him up and send him flying around but she knew it wouldn't have been enough._

He looked down at the ground as he remembered all of the steps that lead up to this moment. _She then circled around him which I thought was to originally form the tornado but she was weakening the ground around Romeo while releasing her black wind to prevent him from seeing what she was doing! In case Romeo was still able to hold onto the ground she prepared to simply rip it out from under him. She then took the technique to another level by shattering the solid ground that flew up with him into thousands of pieces to increase the damage of the technique! No wonder she did not just punch him while he was swirling around, it would defeat the purpose of the tornado because the hit would just send him flying out of it._

Bana looked back up to see the worried looks at the audience around him as Romeo looked as if he was yelling out in pain but the wind was sweeping up the sound. He looked over to the sky god slayer watching her own technique for the first time against a living opponent. _She is dangerous…_

"CHELIA STOP THIS! THIS IS NOT LOVE!" Sherry cried out to her little cousin as the Fairy Tail guild was looking as they were terrified of what was happening. Chelia looked away from the violent tornado and saw the look in Sherry's eyes.

"Fine but I'm ending this here." Chelia brought both of her hands down stopping the tornado completely. She watched as Romeo and the rocks around him were falling to the ground, letting gravity do the work. She was ready to walk away when she saw Romeo violently turn his head towards her with a furious look in his eyes.

His pupils were slits, his jam was wired shut as his teeth were dangerously brandished, it was the face of an enraged dragon ready to unleash hell.

Chelia reacted quickly as she dug her right foot behind her as an anchor. Romeo adjusted himself midair with anger flooding his head giving him tunnel vision as his feet hit the ground. He was too mad to see what was going to happen next.

"That's it! I'm-" Romeo began to rant about how he was going to pay her back but before he could she blasted forward at top speed using her right foot as a spring. Chelia delivered a thunderous kick to Romeo's jaw sending him back up into the air. She then follows him up and delivers a series of kicks so quickly that it combusted the air around them as if she was kicking him with fire! By now both Chelia and Romeo were so high in the air that the audience looked like ants.

"Enough just stay down! **SKY GOD'S HOT WIND!** "Chelia delivered a flaming kick to the sternum that sent him back down to the ground so quickly he appeared as a speeding bullet to both Fairy Tail, Lamia Scale, and Blue Pegasus. He couldn't register the speed at which he was falling but he felt his body seemingly shatter against the ground of some building.

"He fell into the old guild hall!" Macao and the others quickly raced over to where he crash landed. Panic was an emotion shared by most of the guild as they were fearful of Romeo's state after taking a hit like that soon after being hurt from her tornado.

 _Huh? Whe-Where am I?_ Romeo's head was swimming as he tried to move. He felt his body cry out in agony as his bones felt shattered. He shakenly reached out his hand against a nearby wooden surface. A bar table. _Alright just one limb at a time._ He eased himself on a stool next to him before looking up at the roof over his head before cracking a small smile. He was not looking at the hole where his body came through but rather the banners that were hung around so he knew where he was immediately.

He was home, maybe beaten to death, but home.

He rolled his head forward as the door slammed open. The sudden rush of sunlight in the dark guild hall had blinded his vision and in that moment he swore he saw them. Just as they were seven years ago with his big brother in spirit leading them in yelling that they were back. However his eyes re-adjusted to the flooding light and his head stopped spinning to see Chelia standing where his guild mates were.

"Had enough?" Chelia asked in the still silence of the dead guild hall, "Ready to call it quits, dragon-slayer?"

For a moment Romeo is silent and nothing can be heard except the falling debris of the roof hitting the wood floor. Then Chelia heard something that surprise her…

Laughing.

Romeo was laughing.

It was quiet but still there as he was slumped against the bar.

It slowly grew into what seemed to be madness as he looked awful. Fairy Tail, Lamia Scale, and Blue Pegasus have finally reached outside of the reposed guild hearing his laughter carry through the air.

"Has the boy gone mad?" Yuka asked, "Perhaps Chelia hit him too hard?"

"Bana?" Lindsay asked the exceed.

"Just watch child", Bana states with a serious look in his eyes while still looking straight ahead into the guild, "Romeo about to show you just how much he grown over the years."

"I have to admit Chelia!" Romeo he coughs out as he slowly stands up from the bar stool, "You were right when you said you were full of surprises. My first day back home and I already meet someone who can push me to the limit. This is fucking amazing!" He took a few steps forward through sheer will power shocking Chelia even further.

 _He should not even be able to move!_ Romeo then adopt a stance where he places his right hand over his left fist. "You may have gotten the best of me before but now you're in my home now so you are going to play by Fairy Tail's rules!"

" _We are Fairy Tail! We're from the guild that doesn't know when to stop! We won't survive unless we keep fighting!" Natsu-nii told me that before going off to fight Phantom Lord and I won't run away from another slayer here!"_

Suddenly the area around the clearing darken and a large magic circle of ancient origins appears behind Romeo as he recited an ancient sutra from another realm.

"Bana?!" Lindsay repeats herself, this time the exceed decides to explain…

"He is summoning one of the Four Horsemen", Bana says, "To bestow its gift unto him."

"A little more explanation would be nice", Lindsay pleaded.

"Very well, four hundred years ago, Master Acnologia made a bargain with the gods to bestow upon him greater power so that he may crush his enemies even further: The power of Armageddon. With this he and his chosen vassals could call upon any of the four riders to grant them abilities that would aid them in battle", Bana explained in an ominous tone, "And the payment in exchange for such power was…."

Silence.

"What was the payment?" Lindsay ask frightful of the answer.

"It was the ancient country Acnologia wipe out four hundred years ago", Jura interjected while looking at Bana, "The souls of the country's inhabitants was the payment for the Dragon King gaining such power, wasn't it?"

"Correct. Its seem you are well inform.", Bana confirms while sparing Jura a glance, "Though Acnologia was already an unstoppable force to begin with at the time, he mostly made the deal to grant his most powerful servants an advantage over their opponents. Outside Archmage Sage Biilet and Sahata of the Storm, only the four dragon-slayers: **The Four Cataclysms of the Apocalypse Dragon** , wielded such power. And together all six of them are known as **The** **Six Signs of Judgment Day.** You're watching one of them fight right now."

The entire group is stunned beyond belief.

"Do you mean to tell me-", Macao started to say.

"Oh that right, Romeo hasn't had time to tell you, has he? Well in lieu of his absence allow me to inform you. Your son Romeo Conbolt bears the title of: **The First Cataclysm.** ", Bana informs, **"** But before you have a heart attack know that this is just a title given to him by Acnologia. It mostly to strike fear into the hearts of his enemies if anything. The boy hasn't kill anyone… yet", Bana coldly states, "On a lighter note, most of my master's servants like to call him by his unofficial title: **Little Claw,** for he is the youngest amongst the Master's vassals."

Before anyone could further inquire more information out of Bana, a strange new energy fill the area as the air in the guild itself takes on a sudden chill. Everyone is able to see their breath as the something starts to appear from the magic circle.

" **Gift of the Horsemen** **: Death"**

A large ghastly figure covered in a black robes burst out of the ground, it face completely hidden by the shadows in it hood form. It hovers slightly above the ground above Romeo while giving a deadly aura. It held a massive scythe in both of its skeletal hands that were covered from the tip of its blade to the bottom of the pole in runes.

" _ **I grant the power of Death's swiftness to ye who has summon me",**_ The figure announces as it raises it scythe high into the air, and bring it down in a swooping motion onto Romeo. But instead of slicing him straight down the middle it simply passes thru him seemingly doing nothing at first.

Then ghostly shadows started floating off his body.

_**"Use to gift wisely and remember, no matter how fast you run, no matter how well you hide nothing can escape death."** _

With that the reaper looking figure vanish and Romeo was left standing there staring at Chelia whose eyes were widen in surprise.

"Now let carry on with this match shall we?", said as Romeo rubbed his sore shoulder and vanished in a flash. Before Chelia could react a fist appeared in front of her and sent her flying back out of the guild hall.

"GET DOWN!" Bana and Jura screamed as everyone hit the deck mere moments before Chelia came soaring above them straight out of the guild hall, destroying part of the large fence in the process. A second later Romeo appear in front of her, looking down at Chelia.

"Now what were you saying about an ass-whooping, god-slayer?", he ask before a stream of darken winds comes streaking toward him, dodging to the left quickly he senses a presence behind and turn around with his arm up in time to stop an upcoming downward high kick from Chelia. Using his leg to kick her other foot out, he delivers a punch to her gut while she was trip up in mid-air, sending her right into the street with Romeo right behind her as she flew.

She lands with on the grace of a flopping fish out of water, but nonetheless is able to react quickly and land a brutal kick into Romeo's jaw as he try to capitalize on her inability to counter him at the time, sending the boy sprawling into the forest with the god-slayer right on his heels. The sound of powerful blows being exchange being the only way the group could track the fighters at this point.

"What the hell was that all about?!" Wakaba yelled.

"The Death Horseman granted Romeo a substantial boost in his speed, agility and stealth, though I doubt stealth helps in this situation, allowing him to be able to keep up with Chelia. It also grants him a minor increase in strength and durability as well", Bana answered, "But the downside is that this boasts in abilities is very time-limited, between five minutes at best and drains large portion of his magic while doing so. It would be in Romeo's best interest to end this quickly."

"Where are they now? Can anyone tell?" Droy screamed.

"If you be quiet, Jura-sensei is trying to track their magic auras", Yuka spat out as the Earth Mage had his eyes closes and appear to be focusing intently. Then all of a sudden…

"THEY'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF TOWN NEAR THE MARKET!" as his eyes pop open and a look of dread appears on his face and soon upon everyone else.

"Ah shit", Macao moans.

"Men", Ichiya agreed as the entire group takes off toward Magnolia.

**Magnolia Town**

And shit indeed as the two slayers continue to pummel one another endlessly thru the streets of Magnolia with the screams of the panic townsfolk drowning out the noise their strikes were making on one another. From the roofs of the house to even the canal lanes they were unleashing their onslaught on one another as both were able to run on top of the water at amazing speeds, creating waves that splash the roads on either side on them in their wake.

As the two jumps out of the canals and take their fight to the streets only one thought is running through either one of their heads…

" _I'm going to be completely wiped out if I keep this too much longer."_

Romeo dashes forward and manage to back step the side kick Chelia aimed at him. He then proceed to launches three elbow strikes, landing one on each side of her face before back spinning and landing the third one right in her temple. As he goes to delivers a left hook to her gut she jumps in the air to evade and front-flips, striking both her feet at the top of Romeo's head. As he struggle to regains his balance, Chelia lands on the ground and throw a high kick that strikes Romeo in the jaw and using the same foot bring it back down onto his forehead. She twirls around to land a spinning kick on his neck only for him to duck down, completely dodging the blow. As Chelia look down at to see where he went she propels upward into the sky by a devastating uppercut to her chin. As she soars past the rooftops, Romeo takes off running up alongside one of the taller building before back-flipping off it and ending up right above Chelia at the height of her trajectory. Using gravity to his advantage, he sends himself flying down toward her and delivers a destructive drop kick into her stomach and continues this motion as both of them fall straight into the city's street, causing a loud explosion in their wake, that send debris flying everywhere accompany by a dust cloud.

"So you about ready to call it quits? I mean now you're having a hard time keeping up with me", Romeo boasted as he had his hand on Chelia's head and pushing her face further into the ground.

"Bastard!", she manages to yell out as she struggles to pry his arm off her, but then she gets a idea.

"Oh come on! Call it quits already you stubborn girl and we can be done for the day! I mean-what are you doing?", Romeo stop and ask as Chelia has let go of Romeo's arms and was gathering black swirls around her right hand.

As the citizens of Magnolia look on in fright, a few brave souls decided to investigate to see if the fight was over only to hear…

" **Sky God Boreas!"** A large whirlwind of black erupts from the crater sending Romeo flying through the air and back into the old Fairy Tail building, crashing through a wall making another hole in the guild hall. As he collides into the tables and land into the back wall he can only think of one thing…

" _Damn she strong! I have to end this soon, I'm almost at my limit here."_

As he brings himself to his feet he notices Chelia appear at the front guild hall doors looking around the room with a hint of distaste.

"You guys sure were overcompensate for a lot back in those days with a building this large. The Strongest guild in Fiore everyone use to say. Humph, now look at Fairy Tail, scrapping the bottom of the barrel", she snickered, "Now it the weakest guild on the entire continent. If it wasn't for Lamia Scale and Blue Pegasus, Fairy Tail wouldn't even still be around."

Romeo stands straight up upon hearing this and glares directly at her.

"Why waste your talents with them? With your strength you could easily get into any of the top guilds in the country. Maybe, even Sabertooth might take you, then they could have the Triple Dragons.", Chelia asked, "You could possibly join Lamia Scale, though you would be just stuck in my shadow as an inferior slayer."

"I told you before this is my home", Romeo started to say, "I don't care if it the weakest guild on the continent, hell I couldn't care less if it was the weakest guild on the entire planet, I love this place and I miss it since I been gone. I love the people who are a part of it. This place was my childhood before Acnologia showed up. I grew up here. I met Natsu here. I played with Wendy here alongside Lindsay and I do not take kindly to you or anyone disrespecting it", he growled the last part.

"Oh, did I hit a nerve?" Chelia sneered.

"Yes you did. My main goal is to return Fairy Tail to its former glory. To put it back at the top of the magical guilds. And do you know what my first step in doing that is?" Romeo asked.

"No, why don't you tell me", Chelia jested.

"Imagine what all the other guilds will think when they hear that the Number #2 magic guild in the entire kingdom Fiore: Lamia Scale, residential god-slayer was defeated by Fairy Tail newest member, the Apocalypse dragon-slayer, who is the son of its Fourth Guild Master!"

"OH YEAH?! JUST TRY IT!" as Chelia process to suck in large amount of air…

" _ **SKY GOD'S BELLOW!"**_ She proceeded to unleash a massive stream of darken air in the shape of a tornado at Romeo.

As the attack draws ever closer to it intended target, Romeo process to engulf a massive amount of air himself, and then unleashes his own attack as the faint shadowy form of the Dragon King appears behind him...

"Haven't you heard? Dragons beat gods when it comes to using their mouths to fight!, _**ROAR OF THE APOCALYPSE DRAGON!",**_ as a massive spiraling beam of his magic comes streaming out of his mouth and collides head-on with Chelia's attack.

But the two breath attacks only struggle against one another for a second before the Sky God-Slayer Bellow is completely engulfs by the dazzling light of the roar and the beam continues on toward Chelia who can only look on at the oncoming attack in amazement…

" _It so beautiful…, I could look at it forever",_ before she feels a pair of small hands latch onto her shoulders and lift her out of the way.

The beam continues down the center of town, gaining attitude as it travel ( **A/N:** **Due to Romeo technically pointing it up at Chelia attacks due to her being taller than Romeo therefore she pointed her down to get maximum effec** t.). It barely graces the top of the Kardia Cathedral center building as it streaks into the clouds above and explode in a brilliant light that seem to set the sky ablaze. It shine so bright that on the onlookers who were looking up at it had to shield their eyes, as the thundering explosion that follows nearly blew eardrums.

When everything was said and done, Romeo walks to the entrance of the building and notices that his dad was standing at the gateway alongside the rest of Fairy Tail, Blue Pegasus, and Lamia Scale. Movement to his upper left caught his attention and he turn to Bana was hovering in the air while holding a surprise Chelia.

"Do you want to continue this?" Romeo yelled up toward her, "I can still go if you want to. What say you?"

Before Chelia could answer Bana decided to interject…

"Don't be stupid girl. I sense that you have no magic left after your last attack. You don't even have enough to heal. And while Romeo in the same boat, any fight you two would have would be purely hand-to-hand, which anyone else here can testify that without your healing factor he has you beat. Shallow your pride and cut your losses before you truly get hurt. But hey that just my suggestion, the choice is yours to make", Bana whisper to her, "You should also know that while you can restore your strength by sucking in air remember this. Did you really think Romeo is gonna just stand there and let you?"

As Chelia thinks over what the exceed says she discovers, to her regret, that he is right. She had used up her magic, and couldn't even heal herself anymore and there was no way in hell she was going to find the time to restore energy especially not while fighting. Also her adrenaline was dying down, and she was starting to feel pain from where Romeo dropkick her into the stone street, and that made the realization all the worse.

She lost.

To a dragon-slayer.

Her first match with another slayer and she lost.

"No", she said in disgusted voice, "I'm done, you win this round."

As Bana proceed to float down to the ground he decide to give the girl some words of encouragement…

"Don't be anger by this loss girl. Use it as a reason to train and become stronger. Romeo is going to need someone like you around to keep him on his toes, and you're going to need someone like him around to do the same. Train hard, improve your techniques, and then challenge him again. Even Master Acnologia didn't become as strong as he is today by fighting weak opponents."

"But I lost", Chelia growled, "To a dragon-slayer, from Fairy Tail."

"You had him trapped before and you even kept up with Romeo blow for blow after he activated his Gift of the Horsemen: Death. That pretty damn impressive in my book and I saw him use that technique against people renowned for their speed, and they could barely follow him, let alone keep up with him. You're the first person I seen outside of the Acnologia's top servants, the Ice God-Slayer, and even Acnologia himself to be able nullify his Iron Bone technique. If I could I would offer you a position among the Dragon King forces, no doubt he would be impressive by your talent", Bana stated though he chose to ignore the tone of voice Chelia used.

Chelia turns and looks around at Bana…

"You really think I'm strong? Even after I lost?" she asked, "Also you met the Ice God-slayer?"

"Story for another time. Anyway you're powerful, but you need to stop relying on your healing factor to keep you in the fight. It a constant drain on your magic because you just take the hits knowing that you'll heal right back up. The main reason Romeo won was because he just outlasted you. It basically came down to a battle of attrition", Bana pointed out.

Soon the duo touch down on the ground ( **A/N: They were a long way up and Bana floated down slowly to be gentle on Chelia's wounds.)**

"You have great potential to be able to live up to your title as god-slayer, don't waste it getting angry over a loss.", as he flew over to his charge who has collapse on the steps of the building.

"You know that her Eurus's Endowment ended after she kicked you into your old guild right?" Romeo just kept looking out at the destruction the two caused during their fight.

"I know. She seemed to grow stronger while fighting me as if her body adjusted to Eurus's Endowment and made it her own power. That's crazy to think about… she should have just fallen over taking my first hit after summoning Death." Romeo winced at his injuries while laying back on the steps.

"She is powerful", Romeo simply smiled, "I hope I get to fight her again, but..."

"But?"

"Don't get me wrong, she a great person to fight against, too bad she got that attitude problem _."_

Bana lets out a laugh upon hearing that.

"Well, now come on, you got a lot of explaining to do to your father and fellow guild members and we need to get you heal up."

"What did you tell them Bana?" Romeo asked as worried look appear on his face.

"You'll see", Bana grinned while thinking " _What kind of grudge does that girl have against Fairy Tail?"_


	5. Twilight Ogre

**Chapter 5**

**Twilight Ogre**

It took a while to deal with the local authorities after Romeo and Chelia little sparring match caused moderate damage throughout the town with both Romeo and Chelia apologize to the citizens for the trouble they cause and town officials calculated the damage cost. Surprisingly, both Lamia Scale and Blue Pegasus agree to shoulder a third each of the expense in property damage. Macao could see Lamia Scale doing it because half the damage was caused by Chelia, (And technically she did start the fight), but for the life of him Macao couldn't see why Blue Pegasus was doing it.

When ask Ichiya merely response…

"Men, we are comrade in arms, your burden are our burdens, and our burdens are your burdens, men."

Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth Macao accepted though it hurt his pride a little on the inside, but now they were able to turn to more pressing matters.

Such as verifying with Romeo the information told to them by Bana.

As the group walks back to the guild, (well Romeo and Chelia had to be carried back due to both of them being exhausted after their fight and to keep their wounds from being made worse than they already were),the elephant in the room was addressed.

Toby, infamous for his lack of tack, was the one who asked…

"Hey, Romeo is it?"

"Yes can I help you?" Romeo answered from the back of his father who was carrying him.

"So what does your title: First Cataclysm mean?" causing everyone to sharply suck in air through their teeth.

"You always been the blunt one, haven't you Toby?", Lyon pointed out while carrying Chelia who was on Cloud nine due to the close proximity she had to the Ice Mage.

"What?! I'm just curious", Toby defends himself as Romeo shot a nasty glare toward Bana who was sitting on Lindsay's shoulder.

"Really? You told them everything, didn't you?"

"I only told them the basics so they stop asking me questions. Your girlfriend here wouldn't keep her mouth shut while I was observing the fight", Bana points to Lindsay whose face now starts glow red from embarrassment, the same as Romeo.

"Wh-What?! I'm not Romeo's girlfriend!" she screams, "Today was my first time seeing him in seven years!"

"I fail to see where I messed up on this concept. You're a girl and you're his friend, therefore you're his girlfriend", Bana explains plainly.

"What you think girlfriend means and what the rest of society thinks girlfriend means are two completely different things!" Romeo yells while Macao and the others try to hold down their laughter.

"Okay, okay that enough everyone. Back to the serious matter at hand", Macao interjected after calming himself down as he directs his attention to his son.

"What did Bana mean by First Cataclysm?"

Romeo, seeing how there was no way around avoid the issue decided to come clean.

"It is a title that was bestow upon me by Acnologia at the completion of my training in dragon-slayer magic. Along with other three dragon-slayers we formed the Four Cataclysms of the Apocalypse Dragon. In accordance with the "first" bit I am the weakest of the four, and the least experienced" Romeo admitted.

"Hold on, you mean to say there are three more dragon-slayers out there that work under Acnologia?" Jura asked, clearly disturbed by this new information, "And they're each stronger than you?"

"Well I'm only familiar with the Second and Third Cataclysms, Perses and Harpocrates, I never met the Fourth one. Anyway the Perses is a Second Generation Apocalypse Dragon-Slayer who had the Dragon Lacrima put into him but was still train by Acnologia and his servants, while the Harpocrates is a Third Generation Apocalypse Dragon-Slayer who a combination of both the First and Second generation. They're both leagues above me though the Harpocrates has Perses beat by a long shot. And also those two have actually slay dragons in the lands beyond Ishager in the past."

" _I should inform the Magic Council of this new information. But they may take Romeo into custody to question him if I do. Maybe if I tone down his involvement with the Dragon King they won't see him as a threat. Other than the "spar" he hasn't shown in violence intentions_ ", Jura thinks to himself.

"Hmm", Hibiki wonders aloud, "Going by the current pattern that you're mentioning, wouldn't take mean that the Fourth Cataclysm is a Fourth Generation Dragon-Slayer?"

"Don't know", Romeo said, "Like I mention before I never met them. And besides have you ever heard of a Fourth Generation dragon-slayer before?"

"You have a point there. Third Generation have only popped up recently with the Twin Dragons of Sabertooth", Hibiki said.

"Nope, Harpocrates became a Third Gen when he was eight years old and he twenty-five now. That makes him the first Third Gen dragon-slayer", Romeo disagreed.

"Should Romeo be telling us all this information?" Lindsay asked Bana, "I would think this stuff would be kept secret or something."

"You have never seen their faces before so you wouldn't know them even if they were standing right next to you. And beside it not like you could do anything to stop them from killing you if they wanted too", Bana informed her, "Also they operate in other regions far from Fiore, so you'll most likely never meet them."

"So where are you in all this?" Wakaba asked Bana.

"I am Romeo's partner and trainer. My job is to oversee his training and make sure he stays within our master's standards and ensure he succeeds in any assignment given to him, be it from Fairy Tail, or my master", Bana explained.

"You keep calling the dragon "master. What exactly are you implying?" Macao questioned.

"It exactly like it sounds, Romeo and myself are in service to Master Acnologia", Bana stated.

And that cause everyone to stop dead in their tracks…

"My son serves….that monster?" Macao asked in a frightful tone.

"You didn't really think that he would spare your town, train your son in dragon-slayer magic, and allow him to return home out of the goodness of his heart, did you?", Bana scoffed, "Now that just being gullible."

"Now see here-", Macao started to yell.

"Dad! He's right", Romeo interrupted as he threw a glance toward Jura, "As the First Cataclysm, I'm one of Acnologia more valuable...tools. As long as none of you interfere with whatever missions that the Dragon King assign to me, he won't have to intervene."

"Is that what Acnologia told you to tell to us?" Jura question as his body language gave off a serious aura.

"I'm telling you this for your own damn safety. Believe me when I say that neither you, the other Wizard Saints, the Magic Council, or any of the magic guilds in Fiore, be them legal or dark, are even in the top 100 of Acnologia's never-ending list of enemies. You saw the damage done to Magnolia when he came thru, you heard what happen to Tenrou. Both of them were done in broad daylight. You don't have to be a genius to know that he wasn't afraid of repercussions. He does what he wants when he wants, it as simple as that. And believe me I don't like this anymore then you do, but unless I want to see Acnologia finish what he started seven years ago to Magnolia, I have no choice but to listen!", Romeo ranted off to the Lamia Scale's ace, "And you tell those Magic Council folks, cause I know you're going to report to them, that if they want to keep on living and not see Fiore burn to the ground, they will stay out of my way, got it?! And unless you want to see Margaret Town and Lamia Scale reduce to nothing but mere memories you'll stay out of my way as well!"

Jura lets off a huge spike in magic that surprise everyone for they all thought that he was going to launch a rock shower at Romeo right then and there. But before anyone could do anything, Bana defuse the situation by flying right in front of Jura.

"Let's all calm down now. It been an eventful day and I think we're all a little overwhelm by what has transpire. Let's head back to the guild hall, get something to eat and call it a day. Does that sound reasonable?" Bana calmly tells Jura who finally after a moment lower his magic.

"You're right. It has been a rather long day. Forgive me for my behavior", as he walks by Bana and straight up to Romeo who was still hanging on Macao's back.

"Forgive me Romeo. This a joyous day for you and I nearly soured it, my apologies", Jura states.

Romeo was about to say something until he notice Bana floating behind Jura shaking his head.

" _Ah shit, Bana right. I must be crazy thinking I can take on a Ten Wizard Saint. I couldn't do that even if I was at my peak. Sure Waru might and Echor definitely could, but neither one of them are here at the moment_."

"No problem, stuff happens", Romeo merely said as the group then continue their way back toward the guild hall. As they came upon the guild they notice a figure standing outside the hall carrying some bags.

"Huh? It's Millgana, she back already from her trip to Hargeon.", Macao voiced aloud.

"What?! She back already?!" Wakaba screamed, though he instantly hush himself upon his wife turning around to greet them.

"Mrs. Mine is here?", Romeo thinks as he looks over his dad's shoulder to see Lindsay's mom hugging her husband and daughter before looking at the rest of the group.

"I finished early with my shopping in Haragon and decided to drop by and see how the guild is doing", she explained while looking the group over, "I must say you all look worn out. Did something happen?"

"Yes that something would be me, Mrs. Mine. How have you been?" Romeo calls out as he moves his head to so he could be seen over his father's shoulder.

Millgana's face changes to a confusion expression as she tries to recognize the boy speaking to her.

"Well I'm fine, thank you. Um, not to be rude, you look familiar, but I'm afraid I don't fully recognize you. Are you one of Lindsay's friends?", Mrs. Mine asked.

"Lindsay doesn't have any male friends, dear. Actually I don't think she has any friends in general outside the guild", Wakaba blurts out while taking a puff.

"Dad?! Really?!" Lindsay gasped.

" _Lindsay doesn't have any friends? That a little strange_ ", Romeo thinks as he father's voice shakes him out of his thoughts.

"Millgana don't tell me you don't remember my son Romeo now?"

Millgana's eyes widen upon hearing that and she looks a little closer at the boy on the guild master back.

"Oh my god", she whispers.

"I'm going to say it again", Bana suddenly states.

"You already said it twice today, we don't need a third", Romeo complained.

"Hey third time the charm."

"You don't even know if she-",

"There she goes", Bana points out as Millgana proceed to fall backwards.

"Oh god dammit", Romeo grumbles.

"Timmmbbbbbbeeeeerrrrr!" Bana shouts out as Wakaba and Lindsay rush to catch her before she hit the ground.

Romeo breathed out a bit in annoyance…

"Okay everyone be honest with me", he starts to say, "Did everyone just write me off as dead the day I left? Is it that much of a surprise to see me again?"

**One Hour Later**

Upon Mrs. Mine finally waking up, she immediately crushes Romeo into a bear hug which threaten to injure the boy more than Chelia ever did.

"Oh you poor child! It must have been a horrible time for you! You probably haven't eaten a decent home-cook meal in years!", She cried as tears of joy rolled down her face and Romeo struggles to breath while his face was squash between her bosom.

"Honey I don't think he-", Wakaba try to say.

"Mom he can't breathe!", Lindsay hollers at her, her own face red with embarrassment as she, Bana, and Macao try to pull Romeo away.

" _Vision fading... can't breathe"_ , as Romeo face started to turn blue, " _So this is where I meet my end, oh the irony."_

Finally after an intense struggle and Wakaba talking his wife out of letting the poor boy go Millgana relented.

Though a few minutes later she was at the back of the semi-destroy bar cooking up a storm **(A/N: I added a kitchen to the bar** ), and she insisted that everyone stay and enjoy, including Lamia Scale and Blue Pegasus.

As the mages got seated at their tables and Laki, Bisca, and Kinana help Mrs. Mine serve, Lindsay who was seating next to Romeo decided to ask him question.

"Hey Romeo my mom does bring up a point. What exactly did you eat while you were "training"? Dragon food?"

"You're funny, but huh let me think for a sec", Romeo says while pondering, "Well for the first three years, they gave me a tasteless gruel that was high in nutrients, just like all the other low-tier minions ate. When I was ten and was beginning to excel in my dragon-slayer training I was given the privilege to hunt within Acnologia's territory."

"Did they teach you how to hunt, or at least assist you?" Macao ask, interested in knowing what his son went through over the years.

"Ha! I wish!" Romeo laughs, "Bana taught me a little, but was under orders from Acnologia himself to not help me afterward. The King likes his Dragon-Slayers to be able to operate independently, so for the past three years I was granted three hours a day to hunt and eat, one hour for each meal."

"That not a lot of time to properly cook a meal you have to hunt for", Eve from the next table over said.

"Who said I ate it properly? I cook the meat, if I even got meat that day, with my magic and I dug in", Romeo stated, "Hell one day I didn't have time to do that, so I had to eat it raw. I was sick for the whole day, so I taught myself how to fish, and mostly stuck to eating berries."

Before anyone could ask any more questions, Mrs. Mine and the girls came with the food.

Roasted turkey with gravy and bread stuffing, with apple, cherry, and pecan pie on the side with mashed potatoes along with it. Chicken soup and cranberry sauce arrived next along with roasted ham, fresh boiled lobsters, and grilled and non-grilled salmon, fresh from the Hargeon's market. And booze, lots of booze.

"Romeo, you're drooling", Bana pointed out as the First Cataclysm had a sting of saliva almost reaching to the floor as he getting an eyeful of the buffet in front of him. His heighten dragon-slayer smell was kicking into overdrive by the marvelous aroma the foods feast was giving off.

"Romeo dear, why aren't you already eating?" Mrs. Mine asked, "This whole feast is to celebrate you coming home."

Romeo looks around the table to see everyone was staring at him and looks toward Bana.

"Eat up Romeo", the exceed nodded, "You deserve it."

And Romeo began to devour all the food within reach of him and pretty soon he was stacking the empty plates and bowl around him.

As everyone else look on in amazement at the vacuum Romeo had become Bana, who was nibbling on some grilled salmon spoke…

"Romeo uses up large amount of magic when he gets into a serious fight and needs to regain his energy thru eating."

"I thought dragon-slayers replenished thru eating their assorted element like how Natsu ate fire", Alzack said.

"That is true", Bana agreed, "But seeing how Romeo's element is…. difficult to attain without causing issues, he has to find alternate methods to regain magic."

"What is Romeo's element?" Hibiki asked.

"That for another time. Now I suggest you eat before all the food is gone", Bana said.

A few moments later after everyone was in the midst of eating, Lindsay asked Romeo a question

"Soooooo, little claw huh?" causing the boy to almost choke on his food, afterward when he regain his senses he slammed his head on the table.

"Goddammit Bana, you didn't have tell them that part", he growls at his companion who was wiping his mouth off.

"Yes I did Romeo, yes I did."

As everyone laugh at Romeo new found nickname, something caught the boy's attention, well beside the looks Chelia was throwing at him and you best believe they won't romantic whatsoever.

Despite being surrounded by people who were all enjoying the alcohol, his own father was drinking nothing but water.

" _So Lindsay was telling the truth_."

**Two Hours Later**

The guilds said their goodbyes and went their separate ways.

Chelia, who been mostly quiet since the fight, spoke to Jura upon them getting on the road.

"Um, Jura-sensei?" she asked though hesitantly.

"Yes, what is it Chelia?"

"Would it be too much to ask if I could get some training from you?"

This caused all of Team Lyon to stare at Chelia in complete surprise. Chelia's style was mostly self-taught, and whatever little training Ooba made her do, she complained about. But here she was asking Jura-sensei for help!

"I don't see why not. But I warn you it will not be easy", Jura smiled, "But I'm curious, what made you want to seek training from me? Usually you do your own."

Chelia didn't answer right at that moment as she looks back toward the Fairy Tail guild hall and barely makes out Romeo, who ate himself into a food coma, and is now being carried on his dad's back.

This did not go unnoticed by the others who simply smile.

" _It seems I was right in assuming the fight between them would teach her some humility_ ", Iron Rock Jura thought, " _But no doubt word of her loss will spread throughout the other guilds. Hmm, it seems Fairy Tail may be getting a little more extra attention in the coming days."_

Even though everyone including Sherry thought that maybe Chelia has developed a crush on Romeo, if they could have read her thoughts they would have heard...

" _I'm going to kick that dragon-slayer ass the next time we fight."_

**Magnolia Town outside the Conbolt's household**

"Alright see you tomorrow", Macao said as he waved goodbye to the Mines as he took his sleeping son inside the house. Despite the massive area of destruction Acnologia cause all those years ago, somehow their two-story building remain untouched. Macao thought it was ironic as throughout the years his wife left him and then his son was taken from him, yet the house remained the same. Or just karma biting him in the ass.

As he took the sleeping slayer up to his room, he whispers over his shoulder at the hovering Bana whose was carrying Romeo's weapon and backpack.

"Where will you be staying?" he asked.

"I be staying in the boy's room if that alright with you", Bana stated.

"I see no reason why, my son trusts you." Macao said as he open the door into a room he hasn't been into very often in the past seven years. Millgana came by once a week to tidy the place up, but Macao himself rarely step into it.

"Too many memories I always told myself", as he lay his son down in his bed.

"Tell me Bana", Macao started to say, "What were Romeo's living arrangement while he was gone?"

"A small cave within a mountain with a fire pit in the middle, and some straw to sleep on", Bana answered.

"That was it?" Macao asked, clearly shocked by the exceed's answer.

"I know the other dragon-slayers had slightly larger caves", Bana informed him as he grab a nearby blanket and wrapped it around himself at the while grumbling that "this will suffice for now", as he jump onto the foot of the bed.

As Macao left the room and stop at the doorway to look back at Romeo was stirring a little in his sleep before finally getting comfortable.

"Good night Romeo", Macao whispers, "And welcome home."

**The Next Morning**

"Wake up", is the first thing Romeo hears….

Before he jumps up fully awake and charging both his hands with magic while adopting a fighting stance.

Only to see a miserable looking Bana floating in front of him with an apron on that said "kiss the cook".

"Why are you-?" Romeo snickered.

"Your girlfriend and the little cowgirl force me to wear it", Bana grumbled out, "You will not mention this to anyone unless you want to start sleeping with one eye open from now on. Now come get some breakfast."

"Lindsay is not my girlfriend. I told you this already", Rome argued.

"Whatever", as the exceed flew down the hall, "And by the way, your dad put the guild mark on your left shoulder on his way out to work, I asked him to make it black."

Romeo turns his head and indeed there was a black Fairy Tail mark on his shoulder.

" _To think at one point in my life I thought I never live to see myself wearing this_ ", Romeo thought before turning his attention to his surroundings.

Romeo takes a quick look around the room and notice that it was still the same as the day he left it. Nothing had been moved around or even change. And it was surprisingly clean.

"This is nostalgic", he thinks as he walk toward the hall and gets a whiff of eggs, bacon, and pancakes being cook along with Lindsay's and Asuka's scent.

"Why are they here?" he wondered as he went downstairs to see them

As he walks into the kitchen he greeted by the sight of Lindsay at the stove scrambling eggs, while Asuka was stroking Bana's fur, painfully if his face was anything to go off of, all the while laughing while yelling "pretty kitty". It took everything Romeo had not to break down laughing.

And he failed.

"Bwahahahahahhahahahah!" echoes throughout the kitchen, startling Lindsay causing her to almost drop the frying pan.

"Romeo, what the heck was that for?!" Lindsay yelled.

"Oh you can't stand there and tell me that not funny!", as he points at the table. Lindsay takes a glance and see that Asuka is still heavily petting Bana which causes the Ash/Smoke Mage to erupt into laughter.

"Hahahaha, he like a little kitten!" Lindsay said between breath before finally calming down and turning back to the eggs.

"Okay, now that we got that out of the way I have to ask, what are you and Asuka doing here?", Romeo questioned.

Lindsay goes stiff for the moment before answering…

"Oh Alzack and Bisca are out on a job so I'm babysitting Asuka", she answered.

"You're babysitting Asuka? At my house? While cooking breakfast?" Romeo pointed out, "Also where is my dad at?"

"Oh, he had some business at the guild to handle. He wants me to take you around town, to re-familiarize you with it", Lindsay responded.

Romeo stares at her back for a moment while collecting his thoughts...

" _It seem that she already forgot about my enhance hearing. skill. Oh well, I'm sure she'll tell me the real reason when she ready_."

"Okay let's go then after breakfast", Romeo answered.

**Magnolia Town**

The four of them have been walking around for two hours taking in the sights, walking down the streets, and eventually ending up at the South Park.

"Do they still do the Rainbow Sakura viewing?" Romeo ask as they walk past the park.

"This year will be the first one since the attack. A few of the trees that were on the outer rim of the crater survive and they use their seeds to plants new ones while moving the fully grown ones into a circle at the center of the park", Lindsay said.

"I always figure people would leave Magnolia after the attack, hell I was afraid it would turn into a ghost town", Romeo stated.

"And some people did leave afterward, but for the majority of the population this is their home. They won't going to up and leave because a dragon came through."

Before Romeo could say anything else his enhance hearing pick up on a conversation that was happening across the park…

"So you hear about how those Fairy Tail losers got some new member who beat Lamia Scale's god-slayer in a fight yesterday", said the smaller of the two men as Romeo turns to look.

"Bunch of bullshit if you ask me. There no way those weaklings could attract anyone that good. He was probably a freelancer they hired to fight on their behalf", say the bigger guy.

"Yeah you're probably right. Anyway isn't Thibault and some of the guys over at their guild hall right now collecting payment?"

"Yeah wish I could have went. I love wrecking up the place and messing those guys up. Oh well maybe next month", as the duo started to walk away down an isolated alley.

But they only get halfway through before they're stop by a ferocious aura that engulfs them and freezes them in place through sheer fear. As they slowly turn their heads, they see Romeo walks slowly toward them with a menacing look on his face along with two ***** vantablack curved short swords, the blade on each of them a good twelve inches long and as sharp as dragon teeth, in his hands. As he passes through the shadows of the alley, the blades seem to disappear..

Behind him Lindsay was staring wide eyed and slack jaw at the sight while Bana was drawing Asuka's attention away from the potentially violent scene.

"Hey", Romeo said in darken tone, "I'm Fairy Tail newest member and the son of its Fourth Guild Master."

The two men starting to tremble from the overwhelming power the Apocalypse Dragon-Slayer was giving off. ( **A/N: Well overwhelming for them. For people like Jura, Chelia, and Ichiya not so much.)**

"Here the deal. I'm going to ask you a question and you're going to answer it", as he suddenly twirl the blades in his hands before disappearing and reappearing a second later in front of them with both tips of his short swords pressing into their groins. Soon streams of blood start to travel down both blades.

"And for your sake", as he looks up toward them with a venomous smile that reveal his sharpen teeth and his eyes looking extremely terrifying to them, "You better not lie to me."

**Fairy Tail Guild Hall**

Thibault, Mattan ( **A/N: character introduce in the anime only** ), and the other Twilight Ogre thugs were wrecking up the hall. Kicking tables over, trashing the bookshelves, and spilling all the booze everywhere.

"Ha! The once mighty Fairy Tail reduce to this! My how the mighty have fallen!" Thibault yelled in the middle of the hall as he kicked Macao in the gut and send him flying into Wakaba," Hurry up guys! Once we had our fun then we collect the payment!"

"Oi, you okay?!" the Smoke Mage asked his best friend.

"I fine." Macao grunted thru the pain.

"We shouldn't be just sitting down and taking this", Wakaba complained.

"No! Do not fight them!" Macao screamed, "We will not lower ourselves to these scum's level."

"Scum are we?" Thibault retorted, "Well that mighty rude considering we been giving you a lot of money to keep your guild open! Someone ought to have teach you some manners."

Thibault takes his kanabo off his back and readies it to swing at Macao and Wakaba. Both men stand their ground refusing to back down.

 _"I glad Romeo not here to see this_ ", Macao thinks just as the Twilight Ogre brute swings.

"Take this you Fairy Tail losers-", Thibault screams before a hard kick to the side of his skull sends him flying across the room, crashing him into the walls head-first and knocking him unconscious.

Mattan Ginger and the rest of the thugs all stop in mid-thrashing to take in the sight. Thibault, the ace of Twilight Ogre, was sent flying with a mere kick from some unknown assailant. As they look from where he was lying to where he was standing beforehand, they see Romeo standing there cracking his knuckles while a neutral expression dons his face and Bana stand on his shoulder with his arms cross.

"You know yesterday was a awesome day for me. I finally return home, got to see my friends and family again, even got to sleep in my old bed once more. In fact the one thing that made it truly great was the fact that I got to fight a strong opponent, another slayer don't you know. I was a little annoyed at first with her attitude but I can deal with that.", Romeo explained as he look around and Bana takes off and lands over by the bar, "I was happy, excited, and only a wee bit annoyed all in one day."

Romeo then looks at the lying body of Thibault who was twitching and his face change to a more miffed look...

"But just like your friend found out recently, along with two of your guys I met in out in town, you're about to see what happens when I get angry. And that bad for you, cause normally this be the part where I give you the chance to leave now and let bygone be bygone. But I'm not in that mood right now", Romeo growls, "You would have had better luck yesterday trying this shit."

"Romeo, let's try to relax", Bana instructs even though he knows it futile at this point, but he thought he should at least try, "Your anger is at a ten, I need you to bring it down to a two. If you're at a two then that means these guys should be up and about and fully healed in about two months afterwards."

Romeo returns to a more calm attitude, breathing in and out, trying to find his mental center.

"You're right, I should be like a leaf in a stream. I'm sorry, I'm just so agitated right now after finding out the hard way that my guild is getting harassed by a third string, money grubbing, no talent whatsoever, ass-kissing, overcompensating, worthless piece of shit guild which is comprise of members who are nothing more than small times, wannabe thugs masquerading as mages!", As Romeo with right back into the irate mood he was in a moment ago.

Romeo adopts a fighting stance as he stares the five mages down...

"I really hope you guys can provide me with a somewhat challenge", Romeo said, "Though I doubt it, cause just by the mere looks of you and from what Bana tells me I know gremlins whose job is to clean up the latrines around the caves I trained in who are stronger than you lot."

"..."

"Well I'm waiting."

And went that three goons took off toward him. The first one to reach Romeo tries to land a straight punch to Romeo's head only for the dragon-slayer to quickly step back and allow the man arm to go sailing by before Romeo grabs it and sends his knee up into it.

CRACK!

The sound of bones snapping follow by the sounds of painful screaming fill the building as the man barely has time to wail in pain before Romeo spun low and took his feet out from under him. As the float in mid-air for a second, Romeo brings himself back up in the blink of an eye and drives his elbow into his chest, caving it in and sending him to the ground. The impact of him of hitting the ground and the previous injuries inflicted upon him cause him to pass out from the pain.

Sensing a presence behind him Romeo duck just as a foot goes sailing over his head. Moving across the floor while spinning out the way he brings his right arm up, his hand engulf in magic and aims a punch at the offender's kneecap.

" **Ragnarok Fist of the Apocalypse Dragon**!"

CRACK!

Is all anyone can hear as the punch collide with it intended target and shatters it like glass. As the Twilight Ogre mage collapse to the ground on his good knee while trying to cradle the sack of skin that was his knee, Romeo reaches out and grabs his head and pulls it into his oncoming knee strike. He breaks the man nose on the first try and seeing that he was somehow still conscious, delivers a second one into the man jaw knocking him out along with a good half dozen of his teeth.

The third man upon seeing how easily his comrades were dispatching by the boy decided to cut his losses and make a run for it, but Romeo wasn't in the mood for that. Taking off after him he ricochets off the tables and walls before finally launching himself at the man from behind and nailing him head-on with a double knee strike to the back of his head, knocking him out cold. Romeo uses his body as a landing pad as both of them make contact with the ground and rides on the man back for a few inches. Romeo dusts himself off as he gets up and stare at the two remaining members, Mattan Ginger and some big guy with an ax on his back.

Mattan looks over at the trembling man and barks…

"Don't just stand there dechi! Get him! Or do you want to explain this to the Master Banaboster dechi?!"

The man gulps down his fear and pulls his ax off his back. With a half-afraid war-cry he charges at Romeo with the ax raise over his head.

Romeo, not fazes in the slightest at the oncoming weapon-user merely pulls one of his blades out of the sheath and readies himself. At the very moment that the thug brings his ax down onto him, he vanishes and a moment later blood splatters across the floor and a scream once again feels the air as now the man was grasping his left hand.

Upon further examination Macao notices that all five of his fingers on said hand were missing, scattered across the floor, and now Romeo was walking toward Mattan (who was now shaking herself) as he re-sheath his blade.

"Who the hell are you dechi?!" she scream in a panic voice.

Romeo points toward the guild mark on his shoulder, "As you can see, I'm a member of Fairy Tail."

"Bullshit! No one in Fairy Tail is this strong dechi!" the girl countered.

"Well, now there is", Romeo informed her as he dashes toward her, "And now you done goofed."

She fires off both a fire and ice blast straight at him, but Romeo doesn't even bat a eye as he drops to his knees and lean back allowing both attacks to flying harmlessly over him as he slides on the floor toward Mattan who now out of sheer fear throw a side kick at his head only to have Romeo block it with his arm. As she screams in pain due to Romeo's bone-hardening, the slayer stands up and wraps his arm around her leg.

"You know this would usually be the part where I'm supposed to say that my mom and dad raise me right and taught me not to never hit a girl", Romeo informed her with a blank stare, "Unfortunately for you, my mom walked out on my dad and I when I was two and I been trained for the past seven years by a homicidal dragon and his minions, so no such luck."

And Romeo brings his free elbow down hard on her tibia, splintering the bones within. Before Mattan even has time to react to the shocking amount of agony coursing thru her body she feels herself being lifted off the ground and swung in an arc above Romeo on her way to going face first into a table. She crashes thru the table into the wooden floor and as she tries to gather her senses she hears Romeo walking up behind her. She starts to crawl away in desperation, trying to escape from what she deems , a purple-haired monster disguising themselves as a kid.

" _I didn't even want to come here! Thibault made me come or else he would convince Master to not let me participate in the games_!" ran through her mind as she is almost reaches the doors.

Then she feels someone grab her hair rather roughly and pull it back, almost pulling her hair out in the process, she then looks up to see Romeo looking down at her with cold eyes.

"Please let me go dechi", she whimpers, tears falling from her eyes, "Mercy."

"I won't kill ya I can make you that promise. But that the best you're going get out of me. And to be fair if you just came and collected the money Fairy Tail owns you the normal way without destroying anything or attacking my guild-mates, I would have let you be, none of this would have happen", Romeo explains to her, "But you didn't and now here we are. Hope you learn a lesson today."

He then proceeds to slam her face repeatedly into the ground. It only after the sixth slam does she finally succumb to the darkness and passes out.

As Romeo finishes off the last of the Twilight Ogre goons he turns to the only one who was still conscious, the ones who fingers he sliced off.

"Do we have any bandages around here?" he asks the stunned Fairy Tail members behind him.

Kinana shakes herself out of her stupor and goes digs into the nearby med kit. She tosses them to Romeo who then throws them at the man face.

"Fix yourself up and get your fellow trash out of my sight. You're a big dude you should be able to carry the others out on your own. And tell your boss that Fairy Tail will pay back the money it owe him, but if he tries another stunt like this again, I can't guarantee that they'll be going back to him with the same number of limbs they had when they left, and F.Y.I. I consider the head and dick a limb", Romeo warned.

The man just nods his head while trying not to piss himself as he clumsily tries to bandage himself up before hearing…

"You got five minutes to get out of my sight!" Romeo snapped, "And that started two minutes ago!"

Within the span of a minute and a half, the man bandages up his hands (he took a few seconds picking his fingers up off the ground and stuffing them into his pockets) grab all five of his fallen comrades and take off back towards Magnolia. He runs bye Lindsay and Asuka along the way but bears them no mind as he struggle to get as far away from the building as he can.

"Sooooooo", Romeo says while turning toward his dad, "When was I going to be inform about this?"

"Romeo", Macao spook, "How did you find out about this?"

"Funny story about that", Bana finally speaks.

**Flashback to 15 minutes ago**

"And I swear that all we know!" the Twilight Ogre thugs pleaded.

"He's right! We know nothing else! We're pretty low rank in the guild, so we don't get told much like the higher-ups!", the second man agreed while sniffing up the snot that was running down his nose, and trying to stop the flood of tears from falling. Though it's painstaking hard when you have a twelve inch, razor sharp blade being push into your crotch at an extraordinary slow pace.

"So what you're telling me take Fairy Tail borrow some money from Twilight Ogre in the past to help repair the old guild hall and keep up with the guild's expense, correct?", Romeo inquired while keep both blades slowly pushing into the duo groins, not even paying the thugs any real attention.

"Yes!"

"Please don't yell", Romeo calmly demanded as he slightly push a little more on his blades, "I find it annoying."

Meanwhile Bana and Lindsay watch this unfold at the front of the alley, though Lindsay was keeping an eye on Asuka as she played in the park playground...

"Why did you stop me?! Romeo could get into serious trouble for doing this!" Lindsay whisper harshly at the exceed.

"First of all child this could have been avoided if you would have told us about this from the get-go", Bana told her, "Second, as long as he doesn't kill them he not breaking any of this country flimsy laws. I mean Romeo has told me what Natsu, Erza, and the others have gotten away with in the past."

"Be that as it may, he still shouldn't be doing something like this!" Lindsay argued a little louder this time, "Romeo told me himself that he hasn't hurt anybody!"

"No he said he hadn't kill anyone. That didn't mean he never hurt anyone before", Bana corrected, "You didn't truly believe he came back from his time away as a saint did you?"

"I-" and Lindsay goes quiet as she think the question over. Deep down she truly wanted to believe that Romeo was still the same happy, naive little six-year old boy that was taken away from her seven years ago.

"Well?" Bana asked.

"I thought... I thought he said he didn't torture people", Lindsay replied.

"Oh this isn't torture. This is nothing more that information gathering which he said he did", Bana explain.

"Shoving a foot long sword into someone crotch doesn't count as torture?"

"Short sword actually. Don't worry a lot of people make that mistake, but no and trust me I seen torture. They'll heal within a week", Bana stated.

"And you're okay with this?!" Lindsay asked, "How?!"

"It doesn't affect his duties as the First Cataclysm, so I see no reason why I should get involved", Bana merely shrug.

"Oh my god", as Lindsay slapped her forehead.

"Quiet, looks like it getting good."

"So you're telling me that the only reason why Fairy Tail hasn't reported the harassment your guild has been doing to them is because you threaten to expose the fact that they needed to borrow money from you to the press. And that in turn would make their reputation worse than it already is?" Romeo ask.

"Y-yes", they both quiver out.

"Okay, that all I need to know", as Romeo takes both his blades out to their extreme relief, "If you hurry to a doctor, you might be able to save it before it get pretty bad."

And with that both men take off limping down the alley, leaving behind a tiny stream of blood.

"Bana!" Romeo yells as he walks back toward them, "I need a ride to Fairy Tail."

"Humph", as black wings spring forth from his back. As Romeo get to them he looks over at Lindsay...

"You knew about this didn't you?" he asked her.

Her silence was his answer.

"We're going to have a talk about this. You, me and my dad", as Bana latches onto Romeo.

"Romeo whatever you're about to do, don't", Lindsay plead, and "You'll only make things worse."

"Yeah I know I'm going to make things worse", Romeo agrees, "Worse for Twilight Ogre."

And Bana takes to the skies in the direction of Fairy Tail.

**End of Flashback**

Lindsay and Asuka come running up to the front doors just ask Bana finishes the story.

"And look now everyone here. Let's get started shall we?" Romeo announces, "So why did no one decide to tell me about this?"


	6. Reactions

**Chapter 6**

**Reactions**

"We were going to tell you about this", Macao explained as Romeo, Bana, Lindsay, and Wakaba all sat at one of the few remaining tables while the rest of the guild was cleaning up the damage.

"When? The moment they came in and started wrecking everything?" Romeo questioned, "I mean if you would have told me beforehand none of this would have happen."

"Look Romeo, I'm sorry I didn't tell you. But I just didn't know how to break it to you" Lindsay confess, "To be fair though you did just come home all of a sudden out of the blue the day before they usually show up."

"And you were afraid of retaliating due to them threatening to spread the word around about Fairy Tail having to borrow money from them to keep it open and that would ruin the guild's reputation?", Bana question, "Even though you're pretty much the bottom of the barrel in the country if not the continent."

Wakaba and Macao turn their heads away in shame before Romeo started talked again.

"Okay maybe I did overreact a little", Romeo started to say…

"A little?" Macao ask, "You slam the girl's face in the floor six times! And what about you cutting the guy's fingers off?! Explain that will you?!"

"They'll only be in the hospital two months at best, and if the guy gets to a doctor in time he can reattach his fingers", Romeo shrug, "I could have done worse."

"That does not make me feel any better about this", Macao complain, "And we're not evening talking about the guys in town."

"They'll live", Bana interjected, "Though they may not be able to have children, which is a win for everybody if you ask me."

Macao and Wakaba simultaneously bang their heads on the table making a resounding noise and causing the other members to jump in surprise.

"Now I know how Master Makarov felt for all those years", Macao grumble, "With Natsu and them."

"Yeah, seeing things from the other side really makes you wonder how he held the position for so long without going crazy", Wakaba agree.

"I think he did he just learn to cope with it", Macao said.

"So anyway, can I go on a job now?" Romeo ask.

"Oh that remind me", Macao remembered, "It time I inform you about the agreement that was reach with Blue Pegasus alongside Lamia Scale."

"What agreement?" Romeo wondered.

"Seeing how the...fight between you and Chelia damaged certain parts of town including the old guild hall, the mayor is charging us the bill for the damages. Luckily, in a show friendship Blue Pegasus volunteer to accept a third of the cost along with us and Lamia Scale. In exchange you and Chelia both will accept jobs **together** for them with a percent of the job's reward going to them in the hopes of helping them pay off the debt we own. Now I'll warn you, if you two fight while on these jobs there will be consequences, understand?" Macao informed his son who look back at him in shock

"H-How much?" Romeo ask, "How much of a percent?"

"Fifty percent."

"What?! I already have to give half my money to Acnologia to allow me to stay here!" Romeo yelled.

"Yes, Bana informed me of that this morning,I don't like it but nevertheless this was the agreement that was reach and seeing how the alternate is him possibly wiping out Magnolia or worse you leaving me again, I have no choice but to go along with it. At the beginning of next week you are to travel to their Guild Hall where you will be given your assignments alongside Chelia. And you're not allow to choose any jobs here until you're done with Blue Pegasus. The same goes for Chelia at Lamia Scale. I want to pay them back as soon as possible."

"Fuck me", Romeo moans as he slams his head on the tables.

"Watch your mouth", Macao orders before turning to Wakaba to handle some business, _"_ Now Banaboster is in Crocus on business and won't be back for about a month, which give us to time to smooth things over before seeing him at the emergency Guild Master Meeting."

Romeo turns his head toward Lindsay while it still on the table, "So what jobs are there to do around here nowadays?"

Lindsay flash a strain smile as she responds….

"Oh you're going to love this."

**Later on that day**

"Seriously?! Babysitting! House cleaning! Garden trimming! And taking dogs for walks", Romeo screamed at the end of the day, "That the best ya got?!"

"That last one was most annoying", Bana grumbled.

"Well, what did you expect? We don't get as many jobs nowadays due to our reputation." Lindsay explained.

"God damn it", As Romeo once again slams his head on the table.

But what Romeo didn't know (or he simply forgot he made the boast) was in fact that his victory over Chelia was indeed spreading around the country, to all the major guilds and beyond…. ( **A/N: This all takes place over the course of the next few days)**

**Sabertooth**

"Say that again Lector", Sting said, "Fairy Tail did what?"

"Their newest member defeated Lamia Scale's god-slayer in battle a few days ago", the exceed exclaimed, "And get this, he apparently is the Apocalypse Dragon-Slayer, train by Acnologia himself! Also I hear that he the son of their guild master."

"Really?" Rouge ask, "Fairy Tail has a dragon-slayer again? That interesting."

"It seem we will have to keep a closer eye on Fairy Tail in the future", Rufus stated, "And it be wonderful if I could see his spells in action."

"I wouldn't worry too much. Even if he a dragon-slayer he no match for Sting or Rouge", Lector bragged.

"Frosch thinks so too", Frosch agreed.

**Blue Pegasus**

"Now boys I been meaning to ask you about this Romeo kid who coming to help us with some jobs next week", Bob explained as he was pouring drinks for Ichiya and the Trimens, "You were there. Tell me, is the boy really as strong as everyone says?"

"Men, the boy has a certain battle perfume to him", Ichiya confirmed.

"The boy is powerful. I mean let's face facts here, Chelia is no pushover herself yet he defeated her", Hibiki pointed out.

"And we're going to be having both of them here for a couple of days", Bob realize, "Oh god I hope this guild can survive."

**Mermaid Heel**

"So Fairy Tail has a new dragon-slayer do they?" Kagura said after hearing the rumors around town, "One trained by the Dragon King I hear."

"Meow, you heard about that too Kagura?" Milliana asked, "I hear he is really strong. He defeated that god-slayer chick over at Lamia Scale."

"You mean Chelia Blendy? He defeated her?" Arana Webb sounds a little shocked at the news.

"I wondered if he has a cute cat like the other dragon-slayers", Milliana gushed as a blissful smile appear on her face.

**Quatro Cerberus**

"Ooooooo. A new dragon-slayer at Fairy Tail, and he is Macao's son to boot.", Guild Master Goldmine repeated after Bacchus informs him over a drink.

"Heard about it at one of the bars I go out to in town. My soul is quivering excitement. Maybe he might prove a good match seeing how he was trained by Acnologia."

" _I wondered how Makarov would feel if he knew about this",_ Goldmine ponders as he drinks to his old friend's memory.

**Raven Tail**

"Ha. So that pathetic little guild has gotten a new slayer huh?" Ivan Dreyar laughs as he was told the news by Kurohebi, "No matter, they mean nothing to me anymore."

**Lamia Scale**

"Hmm, news has spread of Chelia's defeat faster than I expected", Ooba grumbled to Lyon.

"It seems it has master", Lyon added, "But it doesn't seem to be affecting Chelia herself anyway whatsoever. Even now she out training with Jura-sensei. They been at it since first light."

"She has to get her training in now before she leaves in a few days to assist Blue Pegasus with their jobs", Ooba pointed out, "Now I explained to the girl there will be no fighting between her and the boy or she'll suffer extreme consequences."

"You don't mean", as Lyon' face goes pale…

"Yes, she will endure my Mega Hell Spin for one hour", as her face takes on take of an evil genius whose plans of world domination were coming to fruition.

"Umm ahem", Lyon coughs hoping to break the awkward atmosphere that had form in Master Ooba's office, "I been hearing rumors around the guild about some members not being on board with Chelia competing in the Grand Magic Games after her loss to Romeo."

"Yes I too have heard such talks amongst our members", Ooba added.

"And what your opinion on the matter master?"

"When it comes right down to it, it's my decision who to choose and my decision is final. Though I can see where they're coming from. If she can't beat Fairy Tail's dragon-slayer, then what chance does she have against the Twin Dragons of Sabertooth should she face them or even worse their own God-Slayer."

"So what your decision, Master Ooba?"

"I'm still deciding. Part of me wants to let Chelia compete while the other side is leaning toward having Sherry take her place. But if the girl can do something to make me change my mind then her place on the team is secure. Until then we'll just have to wait and see. In the meantime go make sure Jura doesn't train that girl until she passes out like last time."

**Meanwhile in a border-town on the Fiore/Bosco border**

"Well well well, it seems our little bro has been making headway ever since the master let him go to Fairy Tail, don't ya think Harpocrates?" A spiky red haired man with blood-colored eyes said to his companion as the duo sat at the only bar in town. The man in question had smooth short blue hair that drape down to almost cover his one red, one blue eyes. Both man sat by themselves at a table in the corner with most of the bar's patrons were focus in the center of the building watching as one of the dancer girl move to the rhythms of a local song sung by the customers as she stood atop a table.

"Yo Harpocrates ", the red-haired man asked.

"Quiet Perses. Thinking." was all Harpocrates said in a soft, quiet tone but nonetheless Perses shut up.

Harpocrates then stands up.

"We go" he ordered as he reaches for his coal black Monk's Spade and Perses reaches for his wide Zweihander of the same shade. As they heft onto their backs and they secure into their holding device Waru takes a look outside through a window. It was a new moon tonight so it was dark with only the stars providing any source of light outside the town limits.

"Pretty dark outside", Perses voiced.

"Hmm", Harpocrates agreed.

"And we have to pass through a forest to get to Magnolia, right?"

Harpocrates nods.

"Want to leave in the morning?" Perses asked, his voice showing a hint of nervousness.

Harpocrates nods again after a moment.

"Alright then it settled. We'll stay here for the night and leave in the morning. Now if you excuse me the dancing girl has a nice rack and a nice pair of aqua eyes and I'm going to go see if I can fuck the blue right out of them tonight", Perses states as he stroll over to the center of the room leaving Harpocrates alone with his thoughts.

**Mercurius Palace-Crocus**

Princess Hisui walks briskly toward the throne room to deliver the news she just heard to her father. As she passes through the doors she spots her father on the throne and he look to be deep in thought.

"Father, I have received word of that something unexpected has come up", The Princess said.

"Is it regarding the boy in Magnolia, kabo?" the King replied.

"Yes. So you have heard as well?"

"I have. When I was informed seven years ago about the boy taken by Acnologia after his rampage in Magnolia never in my wildest dreams did I imagine he return as a dragon-slayer, kabo", King Toma stated.

"Do you think Acnologia doing this cause he planning something? Our intel suggest that neither he nor Zeref are on the best of terms."

"Can't say. We have known for years that the Dragon King employs humans to do his bidding. It the very reason the Eclipse Project is a highly guarded secret. Very few know of it exist. Now while I doubt he discover what we're doing I believe we should take precautions just in case, kabo", the king warned.

"Shall we arrest the boy my king?" Arcadios suggested as he walk into the room while hearing the last part of the conversation, "A dragon-slayer of Acnologia shouldn't be taken lightly sire."

"You are correct in that matter, but arresting him might arouse suspicion from Acnologia. For now keep a discreet eye on him, nothing more, kabo", King Toma ordered.

"Yes your majesty", Arcadios bowed.

"I shall return to the Eclipse Project then", Hisui said as she turn and left.

" _This is getting more dangerous than we hoped kabo",_ The King thought, " _The entire success of this plan relies on neither Zeref nor Acnologia finding out about it, kabo."_

**In the town of Era at the Magic Council Headquarters**

"It would seem your decision to give the young girl that book was indeed a mistake" Councilman Org chuckled, "She faced her first true opponent and loss."

"My sources stated that she barely came up short in the match", Chairman Gran Doma replied, "Anyways, that is not what this meeting is about."

"Correct, a dragon-slayer of Acnologia has finally appear in Fiore!" another council members yelled out, "To our knowledge this has never happen before."

"True, usually encounters with Acnologia's forces happen outside Fiore, in fact most happen beyond Ishgar's borders", Gran added, "For one to appear in Fiore and at the very least join a guild has indeed caught us off-guard."

"And not just any guild, Fairy Tail of all places. The irony is almost sickening", a second council member voices.

"And our Jura stated in his report that it's the same boy who was taken by Acnologia seven years ago", Org stated, "The same boy who we thought was as good as dead."

"Now the next question that should be answer", Gran Doma explain, "Is how should we handle this situation?"

"Jura specially stated that the boy told him that as long as the Magic Council doesn't interfere with him, than all will be well."

"Are we supposed to take the word of a boy and furthermore the Dragon King?!"

"What would you have us do, arrest them?! I doubt Acnologia will take kindly to that?!"

"So would have the entirety of Ishgar and furthermore Earth-Land believe that we're afraid of a mere child?! That he can tell us what to do and do as he pleases while we cower in fear of his dragon's wrath?!"

"ENOUGH!" Gran's voice boomed throughout the room and all eyes turned to him.

"I have reach my decision. We will monitor the boy from a safe distance until I feel we are ready to handle the situation properly. We must not merely rush into matters that concern Acnologia. No one will make any sudden action against the boy I deem him a big enough threat. Thus we pray."

"Thus we pray", everyone else repeats.

**In an undisclosed location**

"This is what our spies have reported my lord. The First Cataclysm had defeated the Sky God-Slayer in a non-lethal fight a few days ago in the town of Magnolia", a male voice from the shadows said, "It seem to have the whole nation, including the Magic Council riled up."

"Ahhh Little Claw finally won a match on his own? How cute" this time a feminine voice gushed.

"The boy has defeated opponents on his own before, this is just the first time he defeated another slayer without help from the Second and Third Cataclysms", the male voice replied.

"They grow up so fast", the female voice said as she faked a sniff.

"Anyway, my lord if I may, why did you allow the First Cataclysm to return to his home all of a sudden? Putting a dragon-slayer out in the open like that is...not your style", the male voice asked, "Though the boy has shown the world the strength of your forces."

There was a moment of silence before a deepen voice that you would swear came from the depth of hell itself announced...

" **I have plans in the works and sending the First allows me to disrupt the movements of those who would try and thwart those plans. And besides I do love me a little chaos for it was from chaos from which I was born."**

**A few days later on one of Fiore main road**

"Tell me again why you won't fly me to Blue Pegasus guild hall?" Romeo asked while jogging down the road.

"Because you been relaxing in your training ever since you got back home and we're using this trip to catch up in it", Bana explained while sitting onto of the boy's head holding a metal kenpo shinai in his hands.

"But were the fifty pounds strap-on weights for my hands and feet really necessary?"

"We have a lot of catching up to do. Now onto your bone hardening routine. I'll go light on you that way you can still do any jobs assign to you."

"Alright fine whatever."

Bana darken wings appear and he soon floating alongside Romeo as he continues his jog. Gripping the metal practice sword with both hands and pulls back as far as he can go, aims for Romeo's chest and….

WHACK!

The echoing sound of metal hitting flesh rings throughout the woods as the impact leaves a deep red patch of skin in the center of Romeo's upper body.

"Ow."

WHACK!

This time in the gut.

"Ow."

"Must you do that?"

"It relieves the pain", Romeo told him.

"Whatever", as Bana continued this throughout the journey to Blue Pegasus.

**Blue Pegasus Guild Hall**

"What the hell am I looking at right now?" Romeo asks Bana.

"I assume you're looking at the same thing I'm looking at, a guild building", the exceed answered back.

Both of them were gawking at lone building in square form composed of massive brightly pink bricks, with a pair of towers around the same height as the core building. As the two pass through the building's arc-way neither one couldn't help but notice how this overly-pink buildings stand out amongst the other buildings in the town it located in. What also stood out were the looks that the people walking by were throwing at him.

" _I should probably get inside",_ Romeo thought as he moved toward the entrance.

Romeo opens the doors to the establishment and strolls in. It is then that his highly sensitive sense of smell is overwhelm by the overwhelming amounts of perfume and cologne that swamp the air of the interior. Romeo falls to his knees, hacking up a storm while Bana and the few patrons inside look on.

"You okay?" Bana asked.

"Scent of smell! Overloaded!" Romeo spat out between coughs, "Can't breathe!"

"If you're talking, you're breathing", Bana pointed out ignoring the glare Romeo manages to send his way once he able to regain some sense of composure.

Then a voice rings out that catches Romeo full attention.

"Oh my, no one told me you were such the cutie", as Romeo is without warning entrapped in a bear hug while a bald fat man in a purple spaghetti shirt rubs his cheeks on his own.

"My oh my, you look almost nothing like father, which is a good thing but you most certainly have the eyes and hair of your mother. I wonder if you're as good of a dancer as she was." the man asked.

"Um, excuse me...Mr?" Bana asked as he recovered from the shock that somehow this cross-dressing man had snuck up on both Romeo and himself, " _Looks can be deceiving indeed."_

"Oh you can call me Bob, I'm the Guild Master for Blue Pegasus", the man introduced himself while still smothering Romeo.

"You're the Guild Master?!" Romeo screams out finally getting his head out of Bob's chest, gasping for air.

"Why yes. Who exactly were you expecting?" Bob asked smiling down at the boy.

Romeo just stares at Bob with his eye twitching.

"Now come along", Bob commands as he lets Romeo go, "Chelia is already here waiting for us, she just went to use the bathroom a moment before you arrived."

The three of them walk up to the bar and Romeo takes a sit at the stool while Bana props up on the serving counter.

"Can I get you anything while we wait, dear", Bob asked, "Water, soda, maybe some milk."

Romeo teeth clench and he takes on a peeve expression.

"Why...do you think I want milk?" his voice strained.

"Well honey you are a little on the short side", Bob pointed out while Bana held back a snicker.

"I have you know I'm of the average height for someone my age thank you very much", Romeo argued.

"Okay whatever you say dear as Bob phase through the counter and went to the drink rack.

" _Well that explains how he snuck up on us",_ Bana thought, " _Must have came up through the floor."_

Bob turns around with a can of soda in his hand, "Aw there she is."

And sure enough as Romeo turns around his blue eyes instantly locked with the blue eyes of Chelia Blendy who did not look amuse by his presence.

"Ah Chelia, how you been these past few days?" Romeo smiled, "Nothing but good things I hope."

Chelia's stare only worsen as she continues to stand a mere ten feet away from him glaring into his very soul.

"I been getting some crap lately due to our little spar the other day", she growled.

"Hey not my fault you lost. Oh wait, never-mind I guess it kinda is", Romeo smirked as Bana face palms himself.

"Come now you two. Settle down and pay attention, I'm about to give you your job assignment", Bob announced trying to break the tension in the air.

This snaps Chelia and Romeo out of their staring contest and the God-Slayer walks over to the bar and takes a sit leaving an empty stool between her and Romeo.

"Alright you two. Now I'm sure that both your guild masters have gone over with you about the deal we made in regards to Blue Pegasus taking on a third of the bill for the damage you two cause to Magnolia, along with half the reward going straight to Blue Pegasus correct?" Bob asked while wiping down the counter.

"They have", both slayers said at the same time before throwing an annoyed look at one another before returning their attention back to Bob.

"Now the previous agreement was for you two to do a series of jobs for me until you pay off the debt. Correct me if I'm wrong, but both of your masters have also ban you from doing jobs for your own guild until you're done with us, right?"

"Yeah" they both murmured still peeve at that little fact.

"Now see children such as yourself can't get be of any help to your guild if restrictions like those are put upon you", Bob complain, "I swear those two guild masters don't know what they're doing half the time."

"Umm Guild Master Bob?" Chelia said interrupting Bob little rant.

"What? Oh dear me sorry there sweetie. Anyways I'm going to do you two a favor and assign you only one job you have to do for us. That sounds pretty fair to me."

"Just one job. That seem a little lenient", Bana argues.

"What can I say? I have a weakness for children", Bob smiles widely giving him a small shudder, "Anyway most of the jobs are taken and it the only one no one took."

"What is it?" Chelia asked.

"Oh the job is to collect magic herbs from Mt. Hakobe for a client of ours", Bob explained.

"Mt. Hakobe? Wait that's close to Magnolia?" Romeo remembered, "Why is Blue Pegasus taking missions that used to belong to Fairy Tail? If anything it should be going to those Twilight Ogre assholes."

"Well since Fairy Tail has decline in power and the fact that Twilight Ogre has a habit of charging unnecessary extra fee so outrages that only the richest clients can afford them, most of the jobs in that area come to us nowadays", Bob informed Romeo.

"But this seems like a simple job", Chelia pointed out, "Why not send one of your people out on it?"

"Everyone else is already out on a job and the few people you see in the building just got back from doing other jobs and are resting up", Bob stated, "Frankly, you two are the only active members I have at this moment."

"Okay we'll just grab a carriage and be on our way then", Romeo said, "You can get pretty far up before you have to walk on foot."

"Oh, darling that would be true if you were heading up from Magnolia's direction trust me I know, but Mt. Hakobe is vastly large and you'll be going up it from the other side. For the herbs you're collecting are in a mostly remote area. People rarely go up that way so there no road leading up to it."

"Just how much is the reward for this job?" Bana asked.

"Well according to the client, he willing to pay a hundred thousand jewels for each leaf you bring back", Bob informed them.

"A hundred thousand just for a leaf?!" Chelia screamed forcing Romeo to covers his ears in pain due to the close proximity she was to him.

"Hey some of us have enhance hearing here! Keep it down!" Romeo hollered causing Chelia to shoot a glare his way.

"When do we leave?" Bana asks trying to divert the slayers attention from one another.

"Oh you can leave right now if you want. The client would like to have the leaves ASAP."

"Greeeeeaaat", Romeo grumble as he turn his attention away from Chelia and back to Bob, while in the back of his mind, " _Collecting herbs from Mt. Hakobe. Why does that sound so familiar?"_

**Mt. Hakobe**

"Fucking…freezing here", Romeo chattered as he, Bana, and Chelia make their way to the location where Bob said the herbs would be at, though the walk up there wasn't easy as the snow made traversing the mountain difficult. And even though the wind was slightly blowing it still chill Romeo to the bones. " _I hate this type of environment. Reminds me of the time that I faced the Ice God Slayer."_

"Quit your whining", Chelia said behind him though she herself had her arms wrap around her while trying to stay warm.

"The area should be up just ahead", Bana said while sitting onto of Romeo's head while strap onto his back was small backpack that they were to collect the herbs in. He also happen to be the one source of warmth Romeo had going for him, though he would be okay as long as the weather didn't get any worse. He was taught to control his magic in a way that he could stay warm in cold weather in preparation for his battle with the Ice God-Slayer in the coutry of Iceberg, but that only did so much. Bana with his fur though could fare better in this type of climate than Romeo.

" _Though if we have been told ahead of time that we were going up a goddamn mountain I would have bought warmer clothes",_ Romeo thinks.

As the trio struggle to walks in the blanketing snow Romeo notices that Chelia was starting to fall behind.

"Hey Chelia, you okay back there?", Romeo hollered

"I fine, mind your own damn business", the girl snaps back.

"Well excuse me princess. But in case you haven't notice you're falling behind!" Romeo snapped back.

"Shut up and worried about yourself!"

"Goddamn it! Bana!" Romeo yells up at the exceed, "Go and keep her warm! I am not carrying her dumbass back down if she collapses from the cold!"

"Fine, very well", as he took off back toward Chelia and landed on her back draping his arms around her neck along with his wings.

"What are you doing?" Chelia wondered though she wasn't complaining about the warmth he was giving off.

"Romeo asked me to help keep you warm", Bana told her, "I believe the way he put it was, he is not carrying your dumbass back down if you collapses from the cold."

Chelia's face goes red with rage as she contemplate throwing a wind blast at the boy while his back was turn. Just as black currents begin to swirl around her hand, a voice breaks her out of her thoughts…

"Tell me, what is the punishment for breaking an order from your Guild Master?" Bana asks while looking up at the clear sky.

All the color from her face drains upon her remembering exactly what Master Ooba said she would do to her if she started a fight with Romeo.

"Oh gods, the mega hell spin...for a whole hour", she groans as the swirling mass disappears.

"Good girl now you hurry up, Romeo getting ahead of us", Bana commanded as Chelia pick up her pace, feeling slightly warmer now that the exceed was there.

Eventually the trio come to a vast clearing with a small valley sparsely populate with trees throughout the lower part of it. Looking over the snow covered field, Romeo's eyes could pick up a large patch of green out near the middle of it.

"That must be the plant we're looking for!"

"Really what was your first clue?" Chelia grumbles from behind him some thirty feet back.

"I can hear you!"

"Good for you. Do you want a cookie?"

Romeo grumbles under his breath and starts walking toward the center of the field. He gets about halfway there when his hearing catches a faint noise that sounded like something was moving . He was just going to ignore it and chalk it up to the wind when he realize the wind wasn't blowing at the moment, in fact because they were in a valley surrounded by mountains there wasn't going to be any wind blowing.

He then stops and pays more attention to the sound. As he tries to focus his hearing on it he barely able make it out that it sounded similar to the noise they were making when they were walking up the mountain, only judging by how deep the crunch was as whatever it was press down on the snow, Romeo was almost sure this thing was way bigger than them.

" _But why can't I smell whatever making it? And because the noise is echoing throughout the valley I can't pinpoint where it coming from, I don't see anything and Soul Eyes is only effective in low-lit area and its high-noon right now and the sun is shining brightly. I better be on my guard."_

As Chelia gets closer to where Romeo was standing she notice that he was looking all around frantically while sniffing the air.

"What the hell your problem?" she asked as she move up alongside of him but he ignore her as he continued looking.

"Hey I'm talking to you!"

"Is something the matter Romeo?" Bana asked knowing full well that the boy's senses were better than his own.

Romeo started to breathe in deeper hoping to catch some sort of scent, any sort of scent. Something that could make him determine where ever the thing was. But it was getting hard to focus when a certain pink-haired girl with a big mouth didn't know when to shut up.

"Will you be quiet?!" Romeo roared, "I am trying to see what making that noise!"

"What noise?" she asked although it was in an agitated tone.

"The noise-", and Romeo stops and starts listening again but mostly hear silence. In fact the only thing he can hear is the sound of the trio heartbeats.

" _I don't hear anything anymore. Was I just imaging it?"_

"Okay, obviously you need to go see someone about your mental issues once you get back to Magnolia but until then let's get the plants and leave", Chelia suggested before moving to walk away from him.

"Huh, I must not be feeling so well-", as he suddenly freezes up as a new sound reach his eardrums. The sound of a fourth heartbeat...

A large fourth heartbeat… that was coming from behind them.

If Romeo had reacted a fraction of a second later in grabbing Chelia and Bana and pulling them down to the ground with him they all would have been hit head-on by the large draconic creature that was thirty feet long and had a forty foot long wingspan with a sinister looking tail and sharp talons that were taller than them! The monster flew over them narrowly missing the top of their heads while creating a gust that almost pull them off the ground.

The creature flies for about a two hundred feet before it lands in front of the patch of herbs, sending shock waves upon impact that ripple all around on the ground. It then bends its neck to look back at the slayers and the exceed, it golden eyes fixating on them as its watch their every move

"Oh great, it's a wyvern. In fact its looks like a female blizzardvern", Romeo pointed out after he puts his face out of the snow and gets a good look at the beast and notices large patches of snow all over her scales.

"She _must have use to snow to mask her scent",_ Romeo thought.

Chelia lifts her head of the snow a second later, gasping for air, "Damn that cold! And what a wyvern?! Is that a dragon?!"

"Didn't they teach you anything at that magic school of yours?" Romeo asked while still keeping an eye on the wyvern which was starting to fully turn her body around, "Wyverns are the lesser cousins of dragons. They're smaller, not as bright, and don't have any magic abilites. They only have two legs instead of four as their forward legs are replace with wings. But they're just as nasty as their greater kin, especially with that poison stinger they have on their tail. Though they are usually seen serving under a true dragon, there are plenty of wild ones. Acnologia employs some himself", Romeo pauses as he take a breath, "Here a fun fact, believe or not their mainly herbivore and I think the plants we're here to take are this one food sources. Don't let that fool you though, their teeth can rip you to shreds."

The two pull themselves up out of the snow and Romeo picks Bana off the ground. As the exceed gasps for air he shoots Romeo with an icy glare.

"You could have just said duck you know!" he snaps at the boy.

"Didn't think she would react fast enough", he jokes while pointing at Chelia.

"Are you two done?" Chelia complains, "In case you forgotten that thing is still watching us."

"There something I'm forgetting about them, I just know it. I just can't remember what it is", Romeo scratches his head.

Suddenly the wyvern takes a deep breath and…

" **SCREEEEEONK!" (A/N: Imagine Godzilla's roar)** echoes throughout the valley causing mini avalanches all around. The sound forces Chelia to drop to the ground and cover her ear as the sheer sound makes her feel like knives were being stab into her ears. She soon notice her vision starting to sway and distort, and tears start to form in her eyes. The longer the monster roar the worse the effect got until finally it stop.

It took Chelia just a second to recover thanks to her healing spell and as she looks up she notices Bana shaking the effect off as well. The wyvern was still stalking them as she started to move little by little toward them. It was then Chelia finally noticed something that made her groan.

Romeo was down on the snowy ground, his eyes rolled into the back of his head and knocked out cold.

"What the hell?!" Chelia screamed.

"I just realized what Romeo was trying to remember when it comes to wyverns", Bana says while watching the beast come closer.

"And what is that?!"

"Wvyerns are more often than not prey upon by dragons if they do not serve them. In response to that some have develop a shriek attack that dazes them so they can get away. It only due to dragon's natural fortitude that they're only daze by the attack nothing more. But Romeo being a human, has the dragon's hearing but lacks the dragon's resistance against it. So he succumb to the full effect."

"So in other words you're saying."

The wyvern takes off toward them in a sprinted charge, her jaw wide open flashing her razor blade teeth.

"In other words prepare yourself, this job just took a turn for the worst."

"Ah fuck me" Chelia groans as she gather black swirls around her hands.

"Be grateful this is a female, males have been known to have a taste for human women in more way than one", Bana responded.

**Chapter 7: Mt Hakobe Preview.**

"Romeo", Chelia asked in a emotionless voice while staring straight into his eyes.

"Y-Yes?", Romeo stuttered.

"Why am I only wearing my bra and panties? And why are you so close to me in nothing but your boxers?"

"Would you believe me if I said it to warm you up and make sure you didn't die of hypothermia?", Romeo asked while internally fearing for his life.

"Hmm really? Then explain what poking me", Chelia demanded as black winds gather in her hand, "I'm listening."


	7. Chapter 7: Mt. Hakobe

**Chapter 7**

**Mt. Hakobe**

The blizzardvern barrel her way toward Chelia, Bana, and the unconscious Romeo, kicking large chunks of snow in the process as she close the gap between her and the trio if someone didn't do something and fast.

" **Sky God's Explosive Wind!** " She released a massive stream of black wind into the snow beneath them by launching her arm forward in a punch-like motion. It resulted in a large plume of snow to explode into the air and blinded the blizzardvern from swooping down on them.

As she came around for a second time she tried finding her prey only to see nothing but an empty field. It seemed as if they disappeared into thin air but unfortunately they were still stuck there.

Using quick thinking Chelia released her attack at the ground to not only blind the wyvern but to create a hole in the ground to hide and think of a plan unfortunately it was a tight fit with all three in there.

"We need to think of something but I can't heal him and fight!" She looked at his slowly freezing face and noticed that his eyes have rolled into the back of his head.

Unfortunately they did not have time to think as the loud flapping of wings sounded right over their head.

"Duck!" Chelia grabbed Bana and pulled Romeo underneath her as the Wyvern stomped into the hole with one of her incredible long talons and pierced into her back as she protected the two with her body. It was easy prey for the beast, like throwing a spear into a barrel of fish.

"AHHH!" Her yell of pain was over taken by the loud cry the wyvern gave of her victory as she then flew forward without removing her talon in the hole to create a long trench from their original hiding hole.

"But why protect us?" Bana was lost for words as Chelia tried catching her breath while healing the wound on her back.

"I don't know. My body just moved on its own, just don't tell him about it." She looked up from both of them to see the long trench the beast made from her talon and grimaced at the phantom pain in her back. Bana moved out from under her and began climbing out of the hole.

"Chelia!" Bana yelled out as he takes Romeo's short swords out of their sheath, leaps out the trench, and began walking towards the wyvern with a fierce look in his golden eyes, "Stay here!"

"And what are you going to do?!"

"Distract her of course while you heal Romeo! I rather have two slayers fighting this thing with me instead of just one!", as a bright light starts to shine off Bana's body. Soon the short exceed is replace by a muscular humanoid cat standing six feet tall with black wings folded on his back.

"What the-?" Her eyes were shocked at the sudden transformation because she had never seen an exceed do that before. The Twin Dragons exceeds have never been known to do that.

"Explain later! Heal Romeo now!", as he unfolded his wing and prepared to launch towards the oncoming wall of flesh, teeth, and claws at full sprint.

"…and thanks." Chelia shielded her eyes at his sudden take-off as the force kicked up snow into the air. She returned her attention to healing Romeo while mumbling something about dumb dragon slayers and how overconfident they were.

The wyvern was easily twenty times Bana new size but that didn't deter the silver exceed from charging straight at it nimbly dodging the bite she try to catch him in and landing on the top of her head and laying into her with a series of blade strikes that manage to actually inflicts a number of wounds on the beast and distracted her from the God-Slayer who was busy healing the knock-out dragon slayer.

"This should be enough! Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up!" Chelia demanded as she hover her hands over Romeo's head pouring her healing magic on him in hopes of him regaining consciousness

"Oh come on Mr. big and powerful slayer! Oh look at me I can have the magic to slay a dragon but get knock out by a wyvern!" Chelia yelled in a mocking voice, "Get your ass up!"

Meanwhile Bana's life was getting closer and closer to ending due to the fact that while wyverns weren't as intelligent as dragons, that didn't mean they were stupid, as the beast began gaining altitude quickly and then flew down into a roll that shook off the exceed.

It was slowly but surely starting to predict and counter the exceed's movement.

Taking higher to the sky Bana look down at the wyvern as she stops to look at Chelia and Romeo then back to Bana. She must have realize that the two slayers made an easier target as she starting to trample her way toward them at breathtaking speed.

"Ah shit", Bana curses, "Chelia look out!"

"Huh? Ah shit", the girls cusses as she glances up and see the tower of scales charging toward her and Romeo, " _Think of something fast Chelia_!"

It in her moment of panic that the wyvern spread her wings as she continue to run toward Chelia and that when the Sky God-Slayer got an idea. Conjuring up a massive swirl of black winds with both her hands she unleashes two substantial streams towards the wyvern right wing

" **Aeolus' Rampage!** " she called her new attack which was a more advance version of the one she use against Romeo a week ago.

The wing bellow out as the winds impact with it and the sudden force cause the wyvern spin around losing her balance and thus bringing her to the ground. As Bana watch in amazing from his position in the sky…

"That was stronger than the attack she use against Romeo during their match a week ago. No doubt if she knew of the attack then she would have used it. That can only mean she developed the spell within a week. Remarkable."

But Bana didn't have long to dwell on the girl incredible development as it didn't take long for the monster to recover and assumed her charge toward the duo.

"Ah great here it comes again" as Chelia sucked in a large amount of air.

" **Sky God Bellow**!" and a huge cyclone comes erupting from her mouth at wyvern striking her square in the face but other than dazing her a little did nothing to stop her charge.

That when Bana took the opportunity to perform a downward strike similar to that of a falcon on the beast, slashing with the swords and leaving two long distinct bloody streaks across her face. But as Bana lands on the ground after delivering his attack and before he could take off again the wyvern, in a berserk-like rage spins around catching Bana square in the chest with her tail and sent him and the swords flying through the air. Bana lands a good fifty feet away, the impact of the hit knocking him out and deforming him back to his normal size while the blades narrowly miss landing in Romeo's head and right shoulder.

"Ah this day just keeps getting better and better", Chelia complains as the wyvern finally finishes thrashing in pain and turns her rage- filled eyes toward the unconscious exceed. With one mighty swoop of her wings she takes to the air and prepare to deliver a downward strike on top of Bana, fully intended on crushing him beneath her weight.

But before she can even get halfway down in her steep descends a black current hits her directly in the eye causing her to halt her attack as she shakes off the effect of being temporary blinded. When she turns her eyes toward the offender she see Chelia soaring across the snowy fields using her shadow winds to propel her. The wyvern changes her course and heads straight for Chelia who barely able to jump out of the way as the beast tries to snatch her up with her talons. As the beast fly a good distance before turning around, Chelia readies herself. Between the arguments with Romeo to the freezing cold trek up the mountain this battle was just the icing on the cake for what has turn into a really bad day for the God-Slayer.

" _It doesn't help that I been hearing rumors at the guild hall that I may be replace with Sherry on the team for the Grand Magic Games_ ", she thought as she focus the black winds swirling around her hands into one.

" **Sky God's Dual Boreas!** "

And two huge whirlwind of blacken currents are blasted at the wyvern with such force that there was surely no way it could survive this attack.

"Ha! I got it now! There no way it can withstand this spell! I stay up for two days straight perfecting this attack! And what do you know?! I will have defeated a dragon-like beast that the mighty dragon-slayer couldn't!" Chelia boasted within her head, "That will show him the power of a god-slayer!"

In that moment though it seem the gods had a sense of humor for as the double whirlwind close in on the creature, she once again display her cunning as she folded her wings and simply dropped like a rock allowing the currents to passes above her and Chelia's jaw couldn't drop any further in surprise.

"N-no…" The wyvern easily avoided her attack and now puffed out its chest, spreading its large wings and let out a roar that seemed to shake the winds on top of the mountain. She looked to her right to find Bana in his small form struggling to get up. Behind her Romeo was still unconscious and slowly recovering. She looked down to her slowly freezing fingers and exhaled watching her warm breath fog in the frozen hell of this tundra.

 _"This is bad. My fingers are just the start. I can't spend magic to heal myself and I need to either beat this thing on my own or…"_ She looked back at Romeo's unconscious face slowly being covered by the snow fall before looking back at the wyvern.

It was there for a split second but she saw it.

Maybe it was the answer.

Maybe it was the nightmare this horrible situation triggered.

" _FOCUS!"_

Flashback

"You said you wanted to train with me but here you are not listening to me." Jura's level voice bugged Chelia as she was panting trying to catch her breath. It had been a couple of days since she asked him for training and finally they were outside on the training grounds for the guild.

"I'm trying but you're not making any sense! Why do I need to re-learn my old magic? I have my god-slayer magic which is way better!" He shook his head in disapproval before picking up a small rock from the ground.

"My magic begins here." He placed it in her hand as he then took a few steps away from her.

" **Rock Mountain!** " He joined his palms together and summoned out from the earth a large rock formation taking the shape of a human clad in an Eastern-looking armor, complete with a helmet and with stone protrusions jutting out, with a frowning look and bright lights visible in the holes acting as its eyes.

"Elemental magic begins small and can be as creative as the user can imagine." Jura exhaled and let his arms go down to his sides as Chelia watched wide eyed as the earth giant quietly slipped into the earth as if it was never there.

"It is important to understand where to begin that way you can be as creative as you like. It's much harder to create something new from one of your completed techniques such as the Boreas' Rage. The best you could do with that spell is just try to add upon it, but that's not what I am going to teach you."

"Chelia." He rested his hand on her shoulder and made sure to look into her eyes. "I know it will be tedious and may even bring up bad memories but remember that struggle, remember the hard work it took for you to get your god slayer magic in the first place." He pounded his fist into his chest before giving her a small smile.

"The quality of the Magic itself is immaterial. He who has the stronger conviction will always prevail!"

"Hey!"

"I mean she!" Chelia and Jura laughed at that before getting right back into training…

Flashback End

In a brief moment of consciousness Bana weakly opened one of his eyes to see the wyvern flying at her like an arrow and knew that she was their last hope until Romeo wakes up. Right as it was within biting distance Chelia's head jerked up with an unseen fierce look in her blue eyes.

" **Storm Wall!** " A purple magic seal appeared in front of her and as she swiped her arm to the right a giant wind wall formed in front of her and Romeo. The sudden defensive spell sent the beast tumbling into the ground.

 _"She knows regular wind magic too?!"_ Bana watched as she began approaching the downed wyvern that was quickly trying to get her feet out from under herself. But the exceed could not fight against falling unconscious as the blood from his head wound was dripping on the now scarlet snow.

"I will not let this end here while he is still out there." Her words were lost in the wind swirling around but the wyvern could not care less as she quickly charged at her with her feet out trying to skewer her.

" **Magic Wind Palms!** " She covers her hands in spiraling currents of wind, claps them together and then moves them towards her target with her fingers slightly bent. This generated a large, powerful vortex that had enough strength to stun the beast as his wings flew apart and its head was knocked backwards. Even the area beneath it was effected as it created an almost volcanic eruption of snow and ground to blow up into the air.

She quickly threw its head back forward in a rage as its dragon like eyes searched through the falling snow and earth for her kill.

She did not have to wait long.

Chelia's form became clear above the cloud of snow and ground with the sunset illuminating her body as it was upside down in the peak of her flip.

" **Storm Bringer!** " She made a small series of gestures with her left hand and then thrust her hand forward. A powerful tornado formed and trapped the wyvern in its sudden spiral. Soon the tornado grew thicker with the snow and rocks flooding in from its surroundings causing the wyvern to suffer numerous strikes.

 _"That technique! It's the same one she used against Romeo but she did it so much faster and without_ **Eurus's Endowment** _!"_ Bana could only watch for his last moments of consciousness as Chelia was fighting her on her own and was doing a great job of weakening her but it was not enough.

_"She could do it…if she was dragon-slayer."_

"SCREEEEEEONK" It blasted out of the tornado bruised and battered but not out of the fight. Chelia knew that it would not hold her back forever so she planted her feet deep in the snow to get a strong base. Her lungs flooded with air and quickly converted it to ethernano for a final attack.

_"Hope this doesn't miss!"_

The wyvern shot like an arrow straight towards her fully intending to crush her and end this once and for all but it left her wide open for Chelia's attack.

" **SKY GOD'S BELLOW!** " A massive stream of black wind and energy slammed head on with the attacking wyvern but because she was not caught off guard she drove head first into the blast intending to beat it head on.

Her vision was beginning to blur but she intended to hold onto her attack until it lost but the wyvern also was not going to quit until Chelia quit even if her wings were being severely injured. It was a battle of will and only the one with the strongest conviction was going to win.

But she was exhausted and even with the magic she absorbed before the attack her body would not hold out. The sudden disappearance of the breath attack surprised the wyvern but it was exhausted and injured. Unfortunately for Chelia, because she was diving towards her, gravity would finish the job for it as it dropped to the earth slowly and continued its now unintended path to crush her.

Chelia could only look on as the enormous body was going to fall onto her as her body was paralyzed from the sudden absorption and release of that much ethernano.

" _This is it for me isn't it huh? Killed by a wyvern_ -" And then a bright light fills her vision as a blue and white swirling beam explodes in the side of the wyvern causing it to howl in pain and push it away from landing on her by sheer magic force.

It narrowly misses Chelia and the smell of sizzling fresh fills the nose of the god-slayer. The beast lands a hundred feet away from the Sky God Slayer and weakly attempts to nurse her burning skin by rolling around in the snow but was still in incredible pain as the pressure was hurting the wounds Chelia gave her.

Chelia turns to the origin of the blast and is shock to see a snow covered Romeo hunched over on his knees with his hand outstretch pointing at the wyvern while the other one was on the ground helping him maintain his balance.

"Goddamn", he breathe heavily, "That fucking hurt."

Chelia then notices small streams of blood coming out of his ears.

"What the?", is all she has time to think before an earthshaking stomping from behind alerts her to the blizzardvern throwing herself into another rage fit. She turns around just in time to see her take another deep breath and...

"SCREEEEEEEEEONK!" as this time much louder than her last roar causing even larger avalanches from all over the mountain to occurred and sent Chelia to her knees trying to cover her ears. The pain was more intense than last time as Chelia felt like a whole array of bladed weaponry from spears and swords to arrows and axes were being plugged into her eardrums.

Once again her vision became distort and she felt herself collapse to the ground. As she lay there helplessly a thousand thoughts ran through her head.

" _Crap I can't move_." She looks down to her legs and can feel the creeping lack of sensation in them. " _My healing spell…it's not working fast enough…I-I'm not going to make it and no doubt Romeo can't move either after a roar like that, he is probably dead_." before a second beam collided into the blizzardvern's throat scorching it and sending her roaring as she recoiled from it.

"What?", Chelia said faintly as she struggles to turn her head in the snow to see a wobbling Romeo move past her and firing off another Doomsday shot toward the beast this time hitting her in the middle of her back.

That was the last straw for the monster who has decided no amount of herbs was worth the three burning wounds she now had as she took to the sky roaring in agony the whole way until she was out of sight and only the echoes of her screams remained.

Romeo breaths heavily as he slowly walks over to Chelia and process to scribble something out in the snow.

Chelia's healing spell slowly starts to take affect and neutralize the effects of the roar and she able to lift herself up to see what Romeo was writing.

"Busted...my...eardrums…so...roar...wouldn't...affect...me", Chelia says out loud and finally realize why Romeo wasn't affect by roar and why there was blood coming out his ears.

"Heal...me...up...quick...wyvern...may...be...back...soon...with...friends", Romeo finished writing before giving an afterthought and adding, "Also...you...should...heal...Bana."

And then as another afterthought he wrote, "Next...time...aim...for...the...throat. It's...a...wyvern...weak...spot...you...idiot." to which Chelia had to restrain herself from smacking him at that point.

It took a moment for Chelia to heal Romeo's eardrums and afterward while he collected up the herbs she fixed up Bana, but she could only do so much as her healing spell didn't work on that well on non-humans. When the exceed finally came to his first question was, "What happen?"

"The wyvern flew away and Romeo said when should hurry up and get moving before she comes back with friends", Chelia explained.

"He's right", as he nurse his ribs with his arm and sat up, "Seeing how that was a female blizzardvern there more than likely male blizzardverns in the area. No doubt they'll act in her stead to gain her favor for mating privileges."

"How many are we talking here?" Chelia asked.

"For an area this size, possibly two to four", he answered before Romeo interrupted…

"Which is why we need to get moving!" he yelled as he came toward them with a bag of herbs and then pointing behind him at the large clouds that were gathering, "Also there a storm heading our way. We need to get down from the mountain before it hits. Bana can you move?"

"I can't fly if that what you're asking nor can I transform", he answered as he stand up, "But I can walk."

"Then let's go", Romeo said as the winds started to pick up.

An hour later the trio is slowly making their descent back down the mountain. The storm came upon them quicker than they expected and slow them down as the snow fell upon them at alarming rate. All three of them were soak to the bone due to the snow and even Romeo was starting to really feel the cold.

Romeo led the way while Chelia carried Bana in her arms, his body heat being the only thing keeping her warm thru the storm.

"Ho-How much further do we have to go?" Chelia chattered out.

"I'm afraid at the pace when been going we're not even close to the halfway point", Bana answered as he looks up at her and notices how blue her face was getting along with the fact that his body heat was doing nothing to warm her up this time.

"Are you okay?" the exceed asked.

"I-I-I'm fine", was all Chelia was able to get off before suddenly collapsing into the snow on top of Bana.

"Romeo!" Bana holler out as he try to lift Chelia off of him. Luckily even over the howl of the storm Romeo's ears heard Bana call for aid.

He run back to the pair and turns Chelia only to see that she was breathing exceedingly shallow along with the fact that she was shivering more than when she first came up the mountain. Also he was able to hear through his advance hearing her heart rate going up.

"I-I-It so cold", she mumbles before she promptly passes out.

"Oh great she got hypothermia", Romeo complains.

"Hurry up and get her off the ground." Bana said in an unusually serious tone.

"I know, geez what's bugging you?" Bana didn't say saying else to answer his question so Romeo guessed it must have been the weather affecting him.

He shakes his head and proceeded to effortlessly lifts her up on the ground into his arms and searches around for shelter from the storm. But the swirling blanket of snow nearly blinded him making it much more difficult to find shelter. As he felt Chelia shivering in his arms he knew he had to find someplace to shield them from the storm so he could warm her up.

" _There has to be something around here, like a cave or something_ ", Romeo thought before finally his eyes fell upon a convenient cave that happen to be a hundred yards from their position. Scooping up Bana and placing him on top of his head the dragon-slayer made his way to the cave at a brisk pace and upon reaching its entrance, he stopped to the side of it and peeks his head inside. He instantly regrets it as his eyes fell upon a gruesome sight.

Within the cave was an old campsite that look to been made a couple of years back by some unfortunate travelers. By unfortunate, Romeo meant they were eaten by some mountain creatures if the two mutate corpses around the campsite were anything to go off of.

One of the bodies, an average build man, was right next to the camp's fire pit and had the upper half of his head bitten clean off while the second one, a slightly larger man next to a sleeping bag had a huge hole in his guts with signs of his organs had been rip out.

The terrified look of death was still etched on both of their faces and judging by the looks of the campsite their deaths only happen a few days ago at best. Romeo activated his Soul Eyes skill and saw that there wasn't anything in the cave at the moment and seeing that Chelia condition and the storm weren't getting any better he cautiously move into the cave.

He laid Chelia down on top of the sleeping bag and went to work getting rid of the bodies and starting a fire.

"Hey Bana. Keep an eye on Chelia for the time being", Romeo said as he scavenged what little supplies remain of the ravage campsite, luckily he found some matches left over scattered about. As he proceed to do this he try his hardest to ignore the corpses and their lifeless eyes.

Seeing dead bodies wasn't nothing new for Romeo, being in the service of a homicidal dragon you tend come across destroyed villages and large battlefields. Romeo had seen first-hand what happens when Acnologia lets Perses loose on his enemies, but even after seeing all that death and destruction he was still deeply faze by it. Added that to the fact that he hasn't killed a single human and you can pinpoint the whirl of emotions Romeo was feeling at the moment.

But he didn't have time for that right now.

Stripping the bodies of their clothes to help fuel the fire (seeing how there was little firewood left), Romeo took them outside and try to give them as much as a proper burial as he could and as far away from the cave as he could so that their decomposing scent didn't attract unwanted attention.

As he makes it back to the cave he saw that Bana was attempted to warm Chelia up with a small wimpy fire along with bandaging himself up with some medical supplies that were laying nearby.

"Surely you can make a bigger fire than that even with the small number of material we got."

"Romeo", he said as the boy came closer, "She getting worse by the minute and I can't start a bigger fire in here."

"Why not?!", Romeo yells out of concern (concern over the fact that he going to be having a hard time explaining to Lamia Scale what happen if Chelia dies up here) and the fact that he was cold himself.

"Keep your voice down and look", Bana snap at him and pointed at a footprint not that far behind him. It was big, wide, and had claws mark on it. Also from the looks of the nearby footprints it seems that whatever made it had company.

"Upon lighting the fire I notice that the cave goes quite far back most likely connecting to a serious of cave like the ones where you trained. The two travelers must have lit a big fire to stay warm and that attracted the attention of whatever made those footprints so I don't want to make the same mistake they did. But as you can tell the girl condition is deteriorating", Bana explained.

And so she was for now Chelia's pulse has dropped, she stop shivering, and her breathing has gotten shallow, all clear signs of severe hypothermia.

"Well if we can't warm her up through the means of the campfire, then what can we do?" Romeo asked.

Bana turns to look at Romeo with a somewhat serious look on his face that made Romeo match with his own serious attention.

"Body heat", he almost chuckled at what he knew was going to be his response.

Romeo stares back at him with a baffling look on his own face before the light bulb appears above his head and his facial expression slowly turns to one of pure shock.

"Noooo", Romeo started,

"You know it has to be done", Bana argues.

"No, no, no", Romeo continues to persist.

"I can't transform to into my battle form with my injuries", Bana talk on ignoring Romeo's pleas.

"Nooo, nooo, nooo."

"You think a young healthy teenage boy would revel in the fact that he gets to be tuck in close with such a beautiful young lady", Bana points out.

"I'm not doing it. If she was to wake up that would certainly cause more trouble than I'm willing to deal with right now", Romeo says.

"If you don't do it then she won't wake up at all. Think on that for a moment", Bana said as he cross his arms and stare up at Romeo.

_"It can only be done this way. I'm grateful for what you did for us so I promise I won't tell him… for now."_

The two have a staring contest that would have gone on forever if it wasn't for Chelia mumbling in her delirious slumber…

"But grandma...they destroy your house. How...how could I ever forgive them?" the sky slayer murmured.

It was that phrase that seem to knock Romeo out of his stubborn attitude as he deeply exhale and slump his shoulders.

"If you use your magic redirection you should be able to warm her out faster", he states, "Now first things first you got to get her out of those wet clothes before putting her in that sleeping bag or else it will just get wet itself and we'll be back to square one."

"Please tell me you're joking", Romeo moans and pinches the brim of his nose.

"I am being one hundred percent serious here and if this bother you so much all you have to do is strip her to her undergarments and if that still bothers you can use your sash to cover your eyes", Bana calmly tells Romeo, "Now Romeo and I say this with every ounce of seriousness I have… if you want to save her you...have...to…strip her."

"Why can't you do it?" Romeo asked hoping to get out of the possible clash that would no doubt happen if he was caught by Chelia undressing her.

"I'm keeping the fire going, I need to constrict my movement so I'll heal faster, and with my current size it would take too long to do it and we're short on time, well she is short on time."

….

….

….

….

"No one will ever know about this, got it Bana? Not Perses, not Harpocrates, not Acnologia, and especially not my dad."

"My lips are sealed", Bana promises as Romeo then mentally prepared himself for the task ahead. He turns his eyes over to Chelia who was now shallowly breathing and actually took a deep look at her.

"Okay Romeo you got this. First you just have to take most of her clothes off and snuggle up to her. No big deal, I can do this", the boy thought as he move to undo his sash and wrap it around his eyes.

"Here goes nothing", Romeo says as he slowly feels his way around up Chelia's leg until he comes to the helm of her skirt.

"Okay so far so good", as he moves his hands around feeling for the clip of her skirt. As he try to ignore the fact that his hands would occasionally catch an innocent feel of her butt and how soft yet firm it felt, he sworn he could hear Bana snickering in the background.

"Some days I swear he no better than Happy", as the sound of the skirt clip coming undone bought him back to the task at hand as he removed the blue fabric of clothing and places it aside.

Next as he struggle to take both of her upper body wardrobe off the inevitable happen…

Bana sneezed.

Romeo being so focus on removing Chelia's clothes while blindfolded completely forgot that his exceed companion was there and reacted as such... by jumping in surprise and when he came back down each of his hands fell upon something that was the most likely the softest thing he ever felt. Seriously his hands were sinking into whatever it was and it felt like he was clutching the world's fluffiest pillow.

" _Damn what the hell am I touching? There were no pillows around in the cave. And pillows aren't round, large… soft, and place symmetrical right… next...to...one...another. Oh crap don't tell me I'm gro-_ "

"How long are you planning on as you humans say, cop a feel on that poor girl larger-than-average- mammaries?", Bana's voice cut through the air as he pulls the scarf off of Romeo's eyes letting him get an eyeful on Chelia's pink lacy panties along with the fact that he was halfway done with pulling Chelia's top off when Bana sneeze and now her voluptuous breasts covered by a similar pink lacy, frilly bra were free for all the world to see and they in fact now had his hands around them squeezing them like he was milking a cow.

Romeo whole body turns redder than Perses' sword after the Second Cataclysm goes berserk on a mission, but before he react and removes his hands Chelia starts to stir awake. As her eyelids flutters awake in a drowsy manner her blue eyes lock eyes with the dragon slayer's blue eyes. Romeo remains frozen in place, the only sound his ears can pick up at that moment was the rapid beating of his own heart as the barely functioning girl struggles to lifts her head two inches off the sleeping bag and her eyes start to travel down the boy body to his arm and finally to his hands that were still fondling her breasts.

" _Oh crap. I remember seeing Lucy demolish Natsu-nii for doing this to her and she didn't even summon a spirit to do it! I am so dead!_ " Romeo panics as he prepare himself for the inevitable onslaught and it was that moment that the Sky God Slayer open her mouth.

"I must...be dreaming. No way that we-weak, pathetic slayer would have the balls to molest me like this", the girl said as she puts her head back on the ground.

"Back to my date with Lyon-sama", the girl swoons before passing back out with a smile on her face.

"What little warmth the fire is giving her must be enough for her healing spell to kick in a little", Bana spoke up, "Though it not enough to fix her completely as she is still fading in and out of consciousness and in need of a more powerful source to warm her up or else."

Romeo remains perfectly still for half a minute almost ignoring Bana when he realize the insult Chelia directed at him and gives her breasts a harsh squeeze. This causes her to squeak a little in pain but she remain unconscious.

"Romeo!" Bana barks as he slaps him the back of the head.

"She started it", Romeo grumbles as he grabs the scarf out of Bana's hand and wrap it back around his eyes.

"And besides this was mostly your fault", as he goes back to stripping Chelia.

Ten Minutes later

"Okay, it's done! She finally in the sleeping bag and her clothes are drying by the fire!" Romeo exclaims as he sits down on the other side of the fire ignoring the disapproving glare Bana was throwing at him.

"Are you serious", Bana asks, "Are you fucking serious?"

"She stripped down, her clothes are drying by the fire as is she!" Romeo explained as turn his head away to better avoid Bana's stare.

"You know what you have to do", Bana points out.

"I am not doing that."

"Are you-", Bana started to say.

"I am hundred percent straight! I just feel a little uncomfortable getting into a sleeping bag with a half-naked girl whose power rival mine and the fact she happens to have short temper!" Romeo yell echoed throughout the cave.

"I was going to ask if you're just being lazy because of the fact you have to use your magic redirection to warm her up faster and you don't want to waste magic doing so", Bana continued on purposely ignoring his charge's rant, " _Though seeing how Sahata had been the one female he has seen the most over the past seven years; I can see why he might be uncomfortable around members of the opposite sex that he does not know very well_."

"Romeo that fire is only prolonging her life. If you don't get in that sleeping bag with her she going to die, simple as that", Bana explains while pointing at Chelia whose was looking worse than ever before, "And you, not me, are going to have to explain to Lamia Scale and your father why that happen."

Romeo hangs his head in defeat and begin taking off his vest and pants.

"You only need to go down to your boxers", Bana says as he turns around and soon hears the sound of Romeo slowly sliding into the sleeping bag with Chelia.

"Okay Romeo surely if you just place your back to her back she'll warm up just as fast as if we were face to face with one another", the First Gen Dragon-Slayer thought as he proceed to do as such and place his back to her back, "Now all I have to do is use *magic redirection."

* _ **Magic redirection is a simple ability that almost any mage can use. It the process of focusing your magic in one part of your body such as your left hand and then redirecting it to another part such as your right hand. Through the conscious circulation of ethernano a mage can create heat within the body outside of what is produced normally through calorie consumption and considerable heat stress.**_

_**There are however problems when using this technique in these types of situations. The mage must spend as much magic as it takes to generate an equal amount of heat, so it takes much more to heat a larger part of the body like the back versus a smaller portion such as a hand. Second, is the management of ethernano, by generating heat a mage adds to his own body temperature so in extreme cases of hypothermia, the process takes much longer.** _

_**Not because of a lack of magic, but because the mage performing the technique can suffer from a heat stroke by raising his own body temperature too quickly to help the other. Therefore both of these factors can play a role in exhausting ones magic storage**.*_

"My magic going to be dangerously low when all this is said and done" Romeo thought as he begins to focus his magic around his back and send it on a route from his hands and feet then returning it to his back. Within a few minutes of doing this the sleeping bag that Chelia and Romeo were sharing became a mini-furnace with steam literally rising from the bag, but whether it came from the two teenagers or Romeo himself (he was still uncomfortable about this whole idea) who could tell.

It's about twenty minutes into the "warming session" and Romeo can hear Chelia's heartbeat to speed up.

"At least she getting better hopefully soon I can get out and put my clo-" Romeo thoughts are interrupted by the fact that Chelia turn over in her near-unconscious slumber and latch on to Romeo from behind pressing up against him while draping her arm across his chest and throwing one of her legs over his pelvis.

Romeo quickly loss all train of thought as two bountiful lumps press up against his back and he quickly brings his hand to his nose to stop the geyser of blood that threaten to erupts from it while also mentally trying to calm his lower body down.

He could feel her hot breath on his neck, the feeling of her breasts pushing more into his back while simultaneously her arm and leg tighten around him. But it wasn't her body that almost drove him insane, oh no, it was what she said that did that.

"~Ooh Lyon-sama, you want to do it here in the guild closet?!~" Chelia cooed, "Hope Sherry or Master Ooba don't find us."

" _What the fuck is wrong with this girl_?!" as he try to break her iron grip but to no avail, " _Has this chick been working out or something?! Was she this strong when we fought?!"_

Suddenly a quiet chuckle fills Romeo's ears as his eyes shoot a hell-filled glare at Bana who simply smiles back.

"Having fun there?" the wounded exceed ask while sitting down with both his arms and legs cross.

"Go to hell", Romeo replies though his voice sounded off with him holding his nose.

"You mean the opposite of where you're at right now?" Bana joked.

Before Romeo could flip him the bird with his free hand he himself is suddenly flip around coming face to… well he wasn't being smothered into Chelia's face that for sure so let's just go with that.

" _Too soft. Smell almost… heavenly. Brain...shutting down. Dammit resist Romeo, resist! This is the same bitch who send you flying into the guild hall, twice_!"

"~Oh Lyon-sama so forward! Do with them what you like~", Chelia purred in her sleep while wrapping her arms around Romeo's head causing him to now struggle for air.

Romeo feel a set of small hands grab him by the neck and a sudden yank breaks him free of Chelia's entanglement. As he gasps for air he turns his head around to see Bana standing there breathing heavily from having to nearly strain himself pulling Romeo free of the Sky Slayer grasp.

"Oh thank god! Thanks Bana", Romeo gasps before noticing the strange look on Bana's face.

"Don't thank me yet", Bana says as he points behind him, "Because you're probably going to be wishing that I just would you suffocate here in a few seconds."

"Ahem", a voice calls out from behind Romeo.

" _I can't catch a break today, can I? It's just one fuck me after another_." Romeo thought as he slowly turns around only to once again be staring at a hot pink bra.

"You. Look. Up."

And Romeo did just that and was soon locking eyes with a glaring Sky God Slayer.

"You're not Lyon-sama", the girl says her voice so cold that Romeo sworn that the temperature in the sleeping bag dropped. But Romeo being Romeo and a dragon-slayer on top of that, he couldn't resist acting like a little smartass in this moment.

"Oh what was your first clue? The fact I have purple hair or the fact that I'm not over decade older than you?"

Chelia only glares at him before doing something neither Romeo nor Bana (who was just watching at this point) saw coming.

Moving quicker than Romeo thought was possible for someone who just recover from hypothermia, in a blink of an eye Romeo was lying on his back facing up with an almost naked Chelia now sitting on him extremely close to his groin.

" _When did she get so fast_?" Romeo thought before finally realizing the position they were in. As he try to stop the explicit images that were coming into his head Chelia finally spoke...

"Romeo", Chelia says in an emotionless voice while staring down straight into his eyes. As she continued to straddle him Romeo notices that she was now pulling her arm back and forming a fist. He also happen to notice that it was aiming for his head.

"Y-Yes?" Romeo stuttered cause he now realize that Chelia was in a very good position to do some serious damage to him.

"Why am I only wearing my bra and panties? And why were you so close to me in nothing but your boxers?"

"Would you believe me if I said it to warm you up and make sure you didn't die of hypothermia?" Romeo asked while internally fearing for his life.

"Hmm really? Then explain what poking me", Chelia demanded as black winds gather in her fist, "I'm listening."

"Psst. Romeo", the dragon-slayer heard Bana whisper, "Try being diplomatic."

"Okay Chelia, now before you freak out I think you should know that our situation at the moment is pretty dire", Romeo say in hopes of calming her down.

"From where I'm sitting it just your situation that looking dire", Chelia responds with her fist still encase in dark currents.

" _Poor choice of words_ ", Romeo thinks before speaking, "I thinking you're failing to realize just how bad things are right now."

"I think you're failing to realize just how bad I'm going to pummel you into the ground", Chelia threaten to which Romeo responded in kind.

"Do you honestly think I would take advantage of a bitch like you while you were unconscious?! Please I wouldn't sink to that level and honestly you're beneath my standards cause of your attitude problem", Romeo truthfully tells Chelia.

" _Oh this won't end well for him_ ", Bana thinks as he takes a few steps back from the sleeping bag.

Chelia's hair covers are eyes as the pink-haired mage goes silent, her fist trembling rapidly.

"Chelia?" Romeo tenses instinctively at the odd silence, "That's, uh a nice necklace. I didn't notice it before."

That was true, during the embarrassing incident he completely missed her necklace probably because his hands were full…literally.

"I..." she starts to speak and grips the locket in her palm hiding it away from him, "Don't need to take that kind of insult from a DRAGON SLAYER!", as she brings her fist down on top of his head, "DIE FAIRY TAIL SCUM!"

Romeo is a fraction of a second faster and moves his head out of the way which was a good thing because Chelia's fist left a small crater in its place and the impact echoes throughout the cave. Romeo wraps his arm around her and using his free arm grabs her head and slams her sideways off of him and into the hard ground next to them. Moving his body upward till he on top of her while bending her trapped arm at the same time he looks toward his exceed companion.

"A little help here would be nice!" he screams to which Bana only smirks.

"Nah you got this and beside my wounds are starting to act up", Bana replied.

"Why you little-why are you taking in a breath?", As Romeo is stop-mid curse to see that Chelia was inhaling a large amount of air.

" **SKY GOD'S BELLOW"** as Chelia releases a powerful blast directly into the ground and propels both of them upward with Romeo still on top on her. Bana is force to pull one of Romeo's blades of out the sheath and jams it into the ground to uses as an anchor so he wouldn't get blown away by the sheer force of the attack.

" _Ah fuc-"_ is all Romeo has time to think before his back collides with the cave ceiling causing the entire cave to shake once again. The impact also shakes him off of Chelia who maneuvers herself and lands gracefully on the ground while Romeo falls back down with a hard thump, but like a flash he back on his feet taking up a defensive stance.

"Oh, oh okay. I guess we're doing this now, aren't we?!", Romeo snarls as his patience with this girl was almost at an end.

"Payback a bitch isn't it?", Chelia counters as she fly toward him and unleashes a barrage of kicks to which Romeo narrowly dodges them while thinking…

" _Damn. She gotten faster too. I can barely keep up less now than I could a week ago",_ as he feels the wind behind a kick that was aimed at his head, " _And unfortunately for all parties involve in this job she had to start a fight inside of a ball freezing cave."_

Romeo also happen to notice that certain...assets of Chelia were becoming more noticeable to Romeo due to the constant jumping around she was doing and the fact that it was, like he said, fucking cold.

" _Focus Romeo. Keep your eyes locked onto her eyes. And her feet, and her hands, dammit Romeo just keep your eyes looking at anywhere that not her chest or her ass!"_

Romeo feels his back pressed into the cave wall and realizes he should have been paying more attention to his surrounding instead of Chelia's physique.

Romeo tilts his head a little to the left just in time to, by a small margin, dodge the magic encase punch that Chelia threw and once again it left a small crater afterward.

" _Okay twice now her punches have cause mini craters, now I know she gotten stronger since we last fought!"_

Acting quickly Romeo brings his left elbow straight up and slams it into her chin. This stuns Chelia for a moment allowing Romeo to bring both his right elbow and knee and land two simultaneous blows on her forehead and her gut forcing her to stagger back away from him.

"I'll admit!", Romeo starts to praise, "It damn impressive that you have gotten stronger and faster in such a short amount of time. But the one thing you still need to work on is your ability to take a hit", as Romeo delivers a brutal roundhouse kick to Chelia's head sending her to the ground.

"You should probably work on that when you have a chance", Romeo tells her just a moment before he force to hit the ground to avoid a blast of blacked wind that she shots at him. Romeo has just enough time to bring his head up off the ground only for it to received a vicious kick that sends him soaring across the ground into the hard wall and lands him on his back.

" _Damn she recovers quickly",_ the dragon-slayer thinks as he opens his eyes to see a foot coming crashing down towards his face. He catches it with both his hands and to his complete shock finds himself struggling to to push it back up. Then he notices Chelia had her arm stretch out toward him and was gathering black swirls in her hand.

"Any last words?", she growls.

"Yeah, you have severe anger issues and you must have some major back problems at your age", Romeo states as he twists her ankle causing her to roar in pain and prematurely fire off her magic upward into the roof of the cave. Colliding his arm into her leg and using all his strength is able to throw Chelia off-balance and brings her toppling face first into the ground. But before she could react Romeo is on top of her and grabs both her arms and brings them behind her back. Using one arm to immobilize them, Romeo outstretches his free one to Bana.

"Bana!" Romeo yells while holding out his hand to which the exceed pulls the short sword he was using earlier out of the ground and throws it toward it. Romeo catches it by the handle and slides the blade under her Chelia's neck, pressing against her skin. He then whispers harshly into her ear...

"Go ahead and try to use your breath spell again. You'll be having hole on your neck if you do. Now you listen and you listen well. I do not have time for this shit. I'm trying to be nice here, I could have left your ass out there in that storm or even waited until after the blizzardvern killed you before I shot her. I could have bought your ass to the cave and let you freeze on the cold hard ground. I wasted my magic on you warming you up and I swear on my life I did nothing intentionally to take advantage of you. But your first thing you do when you wake up is to assault me without hearing my side of the story or even listen to the fact that I'm was trying to tell you that we are neck deep in in some deep shit. My patience is wearing thin with you right now and I suggest you start playing nice. Now -"

Suddenly Romeo stops talking as he feel the cave shaking around him.

"Ah crap. Our fight must have disrupt the snow above us", Romeo states and sure enough the shaking increases until chunks of rock and snow were falling down from the cave ceiling. Romeo lets Chelia up, points to the back of the cave and yells…

"RUN!" as he barely avoids a sizable piece of falling rock.

"But my ankle still healing!", Chelia points out.

"Fine then!", Romeo screams as he grabs Bana and picks up Chelia over his shoulder with the other. He then takes off down to the rear end of the cave dodging falling rocks the entire way. The trio barely make it out alive into the tunnel that was connected to the cave as the campfire, the sleeping bag, their clothes, everything was buried under an avalanches of rocks. As the echoes of the cave-in die down the only thing heard throughout the barely lit tunnel was the heavy breathing of the two slayers.

"Put me down you perv", Chelia demands and Romeo simply throws her off his shoulder. The glare she sends him as she looks up could have melted the snow around them but he ignores it.

"Great now we're half-naked in a tunnel, in the middle of a mountain, which is in the middle of a blizzard", Chelia complained as she swats the snow off her, "Could this day possibly get any worse?"

"Well if you would have calm down and listen to what I had to say none of this would have happen." Romeo pointed out, "Seriously you didn't even give me a minute to fully explain myself."

"What and give you time to feed me your lies?" Chelia snaps back, "You're just another reckless dragon-slayer of Fairy Tail that does what he pleases! That all you Fairy Tail mages ever do, as you pleases with no regards to the damage you cause!"

Romeo stares incredulous, mouth agape at the girl for a few moments before speaking…

"Oooookay, this almost sounds like you have a personal grudge against dragon-slayers and Fairy Tail in general. Is there something I should know?" Romeo asked while Bana looks over at Chelia with a curious expression on his face.

"That none of your damn business", Chelia replies.

"Seeing how I save your ass twice in one day I believe I'm entitled to know why you hate me", Romeo countered, "Also seeing how I'm the only way you're going to stay warm until we find something to cover ourselves up you might want to be more talkative."

"I can stay warm just fine thank you", Chelia informs Romeo as she twirls her arm in the air and the area that she, Romeo, and Bana were occupying suddenly increase in temperature to the point that Romeo notices the snow in the tunnel was starting to melt.

"What the fuck?" Romeo questioned.

"I change the cold wind within a certain radius to warm air", Chelia explained in the matter that you think she was telling this to a toddler, "It a technique I developed a few years back."

"Okay then mind explaining to me why you couldn't use this beforehand, like I don't know, in the middle of the blizzard?", Romeo inquired.

"There are limitations to this technique. In a blizzard I can't casually manipulate the wind because of the random powerful gusts. I couldn't do it when we were walking up the mountain cause the winds were too strong to manipulate without a spell, but because this tunnel in more compacted with no real outside factor I can control the wind to such a degree here without spending too much magic.", Chelia says as she pick up Bana and then snaps her fingers.

" _Wow, I must say I'm impress. I guess she really does have a talent for magic_ ", Romeo thought while staring at Chelia before realizing something, " _Why is it cold again_?"

"Judging by that idiotic look on your face you must be wondering why it suddenly freezing again", Chelia chuckles, "I constrict the hot wind to just my personal space."

"Wow that how you treat the guy who save your life two times today?"

"I own you nothing", Chelia says back as she started walking down the tunnel.

"You know hating someone without telling them the reason why you hate them is a sign of just plain hypocritical logic", Romeo called out to her making the god-slayer stop in her tracks. She takes a breath that was so deep that Romeo instinctively move to a fighting stance for the fear an attack from her but instead Chelia just turns around, clad in nothing more than her bra and panties and glares at him.

"Okay fine, you want to know why I hate you and Fairy Tail so much?" she asked.

"Not like there anything else is going to do while we see where this tunnel lead to", Romeo commented.

"Fine, but first you should know the background to the story I'm about to tell you. Back in X779 I was a happy three year old girl living in Haragon with my grandparents", Chelia told Romeo with a somewhat cheerily tone.

"If you don't mind me asking, what happen to your folks?" Romeo asked.

She slightly turned away and wrapped her arms around herself.

"My family besides my grandma, grandpa, and Sherry were already killed in my family's homeland of Brago after one of Deliora's rampage. Sherry…she was really angry and left to chase the demon down." She looks back over at Romeo with a sad expression on her face.

Romeo could understand her pain to an extend, what with his mom walking out on him and his dad when he was only three years old and with Natsu, Wendy, and the rest of the Tenrou group being killed off seven years ago.

"I-I'm not mad at her for leaving us. I probably would have done the same. It's not like she could have taken care of me since she was only 13 at the time. So I went to live with my grandparents who retired to a house in Haragon, a house Grandpa Stewart build with his own two hands all by himself. They did their best to raise me right and they love me with all their heart." She smiled at the thought of her grandparents and the memories she had in that old home.

But the smile quickly faded and her blue eyes became like ice chips towards Romeo.

"Things were going alright, I was happy, we were a loving family until..." Chelia's face darken suddenly as her tone takes a dark and cold tone that almost send shivers down Romeo' spine.

"Until?" Romeo asked.

"Until one day in X784 when something terrible happen. It was the day that my whole life change. For it was that day that Natsu Dragneel came to Haragon looking for an imposter Salamander."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

**Mt. Hakobe Pt.2**

An hour has pass since the wyvern fight and the trio were slowly making their descent back down the mountain. The storm came upon them quicker than they expected and slow them down as the snow fell upon them at alarming rate. All three of them were soak to the bone due to the snow and even Romeo was starting to really feel the cold.

Romeo led the way while Chelia carried Bana in her arms, his body heat being the only thing keeping her warm thru the storm.

"Ho-How much further do we have to go?" Chelia chattered out.

"I'm afraid at the pace when been going we're not even close to the halfway point", Bana answered as he looks up at her and notices how blue her face was getting along with the fact that his body heat was doing nothing to warm her up this time.

"Are you okay?" the exceed asked.

"I-I-I'm fine", was all Chelia was able to get off before suddenly collapsing into the snow on top of Bana.

"Romeo!" Bana holler out as he try to lift Chelia off of him. Luckily even over the howl of the storm Romeo's ears heard Bana call for aid.

He run back to the pair and turns Chelia only to see that she was breathing exceedingly shallow along with the fact that she was shivering more than when she first came up the mountain. Also he was able to hear through his advance hearing her heart rate going up.

"I-I-It so cold", she mumbles before she promptly passes out.

"Oh great she got hypothermia", Romeo complains.

"Hurry up and get her off the ground." Bana said in an unusually serious tone.

"I know, geez what's bugging you?" Bana didn't say saying else to answer his question so Romeo guessed it must have been the weather affecting him.

He shakes his head and proceeded to effortlessly lifts her up on the ground into his arms and searches around for shelter from the storm. But the swirling blanket of snow nearly blinded him making it much more difficult to find shelter. As he felt Chelia shivering in his arms he knew he had to find someplace to shield them from the storm so he could warm her up.

" _There has to be something around here, like a cave or something_ ", Romeo thought before finally his eyes fell upon a convenient cave that happen to be a hundred yards from their position. Scooping up Bana and placing him on top of his head the dragon-slayer made his way to the cave at a brisk pace and upon reaching its entrance, he stopped to the side of it and peeks his head inside. He instantly regrets it as his eyes fell upon a gruesome sight.

Within the cave was an old campsite that look to been made a couple of years back by some unfortunate travelers. By unfortunate, Romeo meant they were eaten by some mountain creatures if the two mutate corpses around the campsite were anything to go off of.

One of the bodies, an average build man, was right next to the camp's fire pit and had the upper half of his head bitten clean off while the second one, a slightly larger man next to a sleeping bag had a huge hole in his guts with signs of his organs had been rip out.

The terrified look of death was still etched on both of their faces and judging by the looks of the campsite their deaths only happen a few days ago at best. Romeo activated his Soul Eyes skill and saw that there wasn't anything in the cave at the moment and seeing that Chelia condition and the storm weren't getting any better he cautiously move into the cave.

He laid Chelia down on top of the sleeping bag and went to work getting rid of the bodies and starting a fire.

"Hey Bana. Keep an eye on Chelia for the time being", Romeo said as he scavenged what little supplies remain of the ravage campsite, luckily he found some matches left over scattered about. As he proceed to do this he try his hardest to ignore the corpses and their lifeless eyes.

Seeing dead bodies wasn't nothing new for Romeo, being in the service of a homicidal dragon you tend come across destroyed villages and large battlefields. Romeo had seen first-hand what happens when Acnologia lets Perses loose on his enemies, but even after seeing all that death and destruction he was still deeply faze by it. Added that to the fact that he hasn't killed a single human and you can pinpoint the whirl of emotions Romeo was feeling at the moment.

But he didn't have time for that right now.

Stripping the bodies of their clothes to help fuel the fire (seeing how there was little firewood left), Romeo took them outside and try to give them as much as a proper burial as he could and as far away from the cave as he could so that their decomposing scent didn't attract unwanted attention.

As he makes it back to the cave he saw that Bana was attempted to warm Chelia up with a small wimpy fire along with bandaging himself up with some medical supplies that were lying nearby.

"Surely you can make a bigger fire than that even with the small number of material we got."

"Romeo", he said as the boy came closer, "She getting worse by the minute and I can't start a bigger fire in here."

"Why not?!", Romeo yells out of concern (concern over the fact that he going to be having a hard time explaining to Lamia Scale what happen if Chelia dies up here) and the fact that he was cold himself.

"Keep your voice down and look", Bana snap at him and pointed at a footprint not that far behind him. It was big, wide, and had claws mark on it. Also from the looks of the nearby footprints it seems that whatever made it had company.

"Upon lighting the fire I notice that the cave goes quite far back most likely connecting to a serious of cave like the ones where you trained. The two travelers must have lit a big fire to stay warm and that attracted the attention of whatever made those footprints so I don't want to make the same mistake they did. But as you can tell the girl condition is deteriorating", Bana explained.

And so she was for now Chelia's pulse has dropped, she stop shivering, and her breathing has gotten shallow, all clear signs of severe hypothermia.

"Well if we can't warm her up through the means of the campfire, then what can we do?" Romeo asked.

Bana turns to look at Romeo with a somewhat serious look on his face that made Romeo match with his own serious attention.

"Body heat", he almost chuckled at what he knew was going to be his response.

Romeo stares back at him with a baffling look on his own face before the light bulb appears above his head and his facial expression slowly turns to one of pure shock.

"Noooo", Romeo started,

"You know it has to be done", Bana argues.

"No, no, no", Romeo continues to persist.

"I can't transform to into my battle form with my injuries", Bana talk on ignoring Romeo's pleas.

"Nooo, nooo, nooo."

"You think a young healthy teenage boy would revel in the fact that he gets to be tucked in close with such a beautiful young lady", Bana points out.

"I'm not doing it. If she was to wake up that would certainly cause more trouble than I'm willing to deal with right now", Romeo says.

"If you don't do it then she won't wake up at all. Think on that for a moment", Bana said as he cross his arms and stare up at Romeo.

_"It can only be done this way. I'm grateful for what you did for us so I promise I won't tell him… for now."_

The two have a staring contest that would have gone on forever if it wasn't for Chelia mumbling in her delirious slumber…

"But grandma...they destroy your house. How...how could I ever forgive them?" the sky slayer murmured.

It was that phrase that seemed to knock Romeo out of his stubborn attitude as he deeply exhale and slump his shoulders.

"If you use your magic redirection you should be able to warm her out faster", he states, "Now first things first you got to get her out of those wet clothes before putting her in that sleeping bag or else it will just get wet itself and we'll be back to square one."

"Please tell me you're joking", Romeo moans and pinches the brim of his nose.

"I am being one hundred percent serious here and if this bother you so much all you have to do is strip her to her undergarments and if that still bothers you can use your sash to cover your eyes", Bana calmly tells Romeo, "Now Romeo and I say this with every ounce of seriousness I have… if you want to save her you...have...to…strip her."

"Why can't you do it?" Romeo asked hoping to get out of the possible clash that would no doubt happen if he was caught by Chelia undressing her.

"I'm keeping the fire going, I need to constrict my movement so I'll heal faster, and with my current size it would take too long to do it and we're short on time, well she is short on time."

….

….

….

….

"No one will ever know about this, got it Bana? Not Perses, not Harpocrates, not Acnologia, and especially not my dad."

"My lips are sealed", Bana promises as Romeo then mentally prepared himself for the task ahead. He turns his eyes over to Chelia who was now shallowly breathing and actually took a deep look at her.

"Okay Romeo you got this. First you just have to take most of her clothes off and snuggle up to her. No big deal, I can do this", the boy thought as he move to undo his sash and wrap it around his eyes.

"Here goes nothing", Romeo says as he slowly feels his way around up Chelia's leg until he comes to the helm of her skirt.

"Okay so far so good", as he moves his hands around feeling for the clip of her skirt. As he try to ignore the fact that his hands would occasionally catch an innocent feel of her butt and how soft yet firm it felt, he sworn he could hear Bana snickering in the background.

"Some days I swear he no better than Happy", as the sound of the skirt clip coming undone bought him back to the task at hand as he removed the blue fabric of clothing and places it aside.

Next as he struggle to take both of her upper body wardrobe off the inevitable happen…

Bana sneezed.

Romeo being so focus on removing Chelia's clothes while blindfolded completely forgot that his exceed companion was there and reacted as such... by jumping in surprise and when he came back down each of his hands fell upon something that was the most likely the softest thing he ever felt. Seriously his hands were sinking into whatever it was and it felt like he was clutching the world's fluffiest pillow.

" _Damn what the hell am I touching? There were no pillows around in the cave. And pillows aren't round, large… soft, and place symmetrical right… next...to...one...another. Oh crap don't tell me I'm gro-_ "

"How long are you planning on as you humans say, cop a feel on that poor girl larger-than-average- mammaries?", Bana's voice cut through the air as he pulls the scarf off of Romeo's eyes letting him get an eyeful on Chelia's pink lacy panties along with the fact that he was halfway done with pulling Chelia's top off when Bana sneeze and now her voluptuous breasts covered by a similar pink lacy, frilly bra were free for all the world to see and they in fact now had his hands around them squeezing them like he was milking a cow.

Romeo whole body turns redder than Perses' sword after the Second Cataclysm goes berserk on a mission, but before he react and removes his hands Chelia starts to stir awake. As her eyelids flutters awake in a drowsy manner her blue eyes lock eyes with the dragon slayer's blue eyes. Romeo remains frozen in place, the only sound his ears can pick up at that moment was the rapid beating of his own heart as the barely functioning girl struggles to lifts her head two inches off the sleeping bag and her eyes start to travel down the boy body to his arm and finally to his hands that were still fondling her breasts.

" _Oh crap. I remember seeing Lucy demolish Natsu-nii for doing this to her and she didn't even summon a spirit to do it! I am so dead!_ " Romeo panics as he prepare himself for the inevitable onslaught and it was that moment that the Sky God Slayer open her mouth.

"I must...be dreaming. No way that we-weak, pathetic slayer would have the balls to molest me like this", the girl said as she puts her head back on the ground.

"Back to my date with Lyon-sama", the girl swoons before passing back out with a smile on her face.

"What little warmth the fire is giving her must be enough for her healing spell to kick in a little", Bana spoke up, "Though it not enough to fix her completely as she is still fading in and out of consciousness and in need of a more powerful source to warm her up or else."

Romeo remains perfectly still for half a minute almost ignoring Bana when he realize the insult Chelia directed at him and gives her breasts a harsh squeeze. This causes her to squeak a little in pain but she remain unconscious.

"Romeo!" Bana barks as he slaps him the back of the head.

"She started it", Romeo grumbles as he grabs the scarf out of Bana's hand and wrap it back around his eyes.

"And besides this was mostly your fault", as he goes back to stripping Chelia.

Ten Minutes later

"Okay, it's done! She finally in the sleeping bag and her clothes are drying by the fire!" Romeo exclaims as he sits down on the other side of the fire ignoring the disapproving glare Bana was throwing at him.

"Are you serious", Bana asks, "Are you fucking serious?"

"She stripped down, her clothes are drying by the fire as is she!" Romeo explained as turn his head away to better avoid Bana's stare.

"You know what you have to do", Bana points out.

"I am not doing that."

"Are you-", Bana started to say.

"I am hundred percent straight! I just feel a little uncomfortable getting into a sleeping bag with a half-naked girl whose power rival mine and the fact she happens to have short temper!" Romeo yell echoed throughout the cave.

"I was going to ask if you're just being lazy because of the fact you have to use your magic redirection to warm her up faster and you don't want to waste magic doing so", Bana continued on purposely ignoring his charge's rant, " _Though seeing how Sahata had been the one female he has seen the most over the past seven years; I can see why he might be uncomfortable around members of the opposite sex that he does not know very well_."

"Romeo that fire is only prolonging her life. If you don't get in that sleeping bag with her she going to die, simple as that", Bana explains while pointing at Chelia whose was looking worse than ever before, "And you, not me, are going to have to explain to Lamia Scale and your father why that happen."

Romeo hangs his head in defeat and begin taking off his vest and pants.

"You only need to go down to your boxers", Bana says as he turns around and soon hears the sound of Romeo slowly sliding into the sleeping bag with Chelia.

"Okay Romeo surely if you just place your back to her back she'll warm up just as fast as if we were face to face with one another", the First Gen Dragon-Slayer thought as he proceed to do as such and place his back to her back, "Now all I have to do is use *magic redirection."

* **Magic redirection is a simple ability that almost any mage can use. It the process of focusing your magic in one part of your body such as your left hand and then redirecting it to another part such as your right hand. Through the conscious circulation of ethernano a mage can create heat within the body outside of what is produced normally through calorie consumption and considerable heat stress.**

**There are however problems when using this technique in these types of situations. The mage must spend as much magic as it takes to generate an equal amount of heat, so it takes much more to heat a larger part of the body like the back versus a smaller portion such as a hand. Second, is the management of ethernano, by generating heat a mage adds to his own body temperature so in extreme cases of hypothermia, the process takes much longer.**

**Not because of a lack of magic, but because the mage performing the technique can suffer from a heat stroke by raising his own body temperature too quickly to help the other. Therefore both of these factors can play a role in exhausting ones magic storage** _.*_

"My magic going to be dangerously low when all this is said and done" Romeo thought as he begins to focus his magic around his back and send it on a route from his hands and feet then returning it to his back. Within a few minutes of doing this the sleeping bag that Chelia and Romeo were sharing became a mini-furnace with steam literally rising from the bag, but whether it came from the two teenagers or Romeo himself (he was still uncomfortable about this whole idea) who could tell.

It's about twenty minutes into the "warming session" and Romeo can hear Chelia's heartbeat to speed up.

"At least she getting better hopefully soon I can get out and put my clo-" Romeo thoughts are interrupted by the fact that Chelia turn over in her near-unconscious slumber and latch on to Romeo from behind pressing up against him while draping her arm across his chest and throwing one of her legs over his pelvis.

Romeo quickly loss all train of thought as two bountiful lumps press up against his back and he quickly brings his hand to his nose to stop the geyser of blood that threaten to erupts from it while also mentally trying to calm his lower body down.

He could feel her hot breath on his neck, the feeling of her breasts pushing more into his back while simultaneously her arm and leg tighten around him. But it wasn't her body that almost drove him insane, oh no, it was what she said that did that.

"~Ooh Lyon-sama, you want to do it here in the guild closet?!~" Chelia cooed, "Hope Sherry or Master Ooba don't find us."

" _What the fuck is wrong with this girl_?!" as he try to break her iron grip but to no avail, " _Has this chick been working out or something?! Was she this strong when we fought?!"_

Suddenly a quiet chuckle fills Romeo's ears as his eyes shoot a hell-filled glare at Bana who simply smiles back.

"Having fun there?" the wounded exceed ask while sitting down with both his arms and legs cross.

"Go to hell", Romeo replies though his voice sounded off with him holding his nose.

"You mean the opposite of where you're at right now?" Bana joked.

Before Romeo could flip him the bird with his free hand he himself is suddenly flip around coming face to… well he wasn't being smothered into Chelia's face that for sure so let's just go with that.

" _Too soft. Smell almost… heavenly. Brain...shutting down. Dammit resist Romeo, resist! This is the same bitch who send you flying into the guild hall, twice_!"

"~Oh Lyon-sama so forward! Do with them what you like~", Chelia purred in her sleep while wrapping her arms around Romeo's head causing him to now struggle for air.

Romeo feel a set of small hands grab him by the neck and a sudden yank breaks him free of Chelia's entanglement. As he gasps for air he turns his head around to see Bana standing there breathing heavily from having to nearly strain himself pulling Romeo free of the Sky Slayer grasp.

"Oh thank god! Thanks Bana", Romeo gasps before noticing the strange look on Bana's face.

"Don't thank me yet", Bana says as he points behind him, "Because you're probably going to be wishing that I just would you suffocate here in a few seconds."

"Ahem", a voice calls out from behind Romeo.

" _I can't catch a break today, can I? It's just one fuck me after another_." Romeo thought as he slowly turns around only to once again be staring at a hot pink bra.

"You. Look. Up."

And Romeo did just that and was soon locking eyes with a glaring Sky God Slayer.

"You're not Lyon-sama", the girl says her voice so cold that Romeo sworn that the temperature in the sleeping bag dropped. But Romeo being Romeo and a dragon-slayer on top of that, he couldn't resist acting like a little smartass in this moment.

"Oh what was your first clue? The fact I have purple hair or the fact that I'm not over decade older than you?"

Chelia only glares at him before doing something neither Romeo nor Bana (who was just watching at this point) saw coming.

Moving quicker than Romeo thought was possible for someone who just recovered from hypothermia, in a blink of an eye Romeo was lying on his back facing up with an almost naked Chelia now sitting on him extremely close to his groin.

" _When did she get so fast_?" Romeo thought before finally realizing the position they were in. As he tries to stop the explicit images that were coming into his head Chelia finally spoke...

"Romeo", Chelia says in an emotionless voice while staring down straight into his eyes. As she continued to straddle him Romeo notices that she was now pulling her arm back and forming a fist. He also happen to notice that it was aiming for his head.

"Y-Yes?" Romeo stuttered because he now realize that Chelia was in a very good position to do some serious damage to him.

"Why am I only wearing my bra and panties? And why were you so close to me in nothing but your boxers?"

"Would you believe me if I said it to warm you up and make sure you didn't die of hypothermia?" Romeo asked while internally fearing for his life.

"Hmm really? Then explain what poking me", Chelia demanded as black winds gather in her fist, "I'm listening."

"Psst. Romeo", the dragon-slayer heard Bana whisper, "Try being diplomatic."

"Okay Chelia, now before you freak out I think you should know that our situation at the moment is pretty dire", Romeo say in hopes of calming her down.

"From where I'm sitting it just your situation that looking dire", Chelia responds with her fist still encase in dark currents.

" _Poor choice of words_ ", Romeo thinks before speaking, "I thinking you're failing to realize just how bad things are right now."

"I think you're failing to realize just how bad I'm going to pummel you into the ground", Chelia threaten to which Romeo responded in kind.

"Do you honestly think I would take advantage of a bitch like you while you were unconscious?! Please I wouldn't sink to that level and honestly you're beneath my standards cause of your attitude problem", Romeo truthfully tells Chelia.

" _Oh this won't end well for him_ ", Bana thinks as he takes a few steps back from the sleeping bag.

Chelia's hair covers are eyes as the pink-haired mage goes silent, her fist trembling rapidly.

"Chelia?" Romeo tenses instinctively at the odd silence, "That's, uh a nice necklace. I didn't notice it before."

That was true, during the embarrassing incident he completely missed her necklace probably because his hands were full…literally.

"I..." she starts to speak and grips the locket in her palm hiding it away from him, "Don't need to take that kind of insult from a DRAGON SLAYER!", as she brings her fist down on top of his head, "DIE FAIRY TAIL SCUM!"

Romeo is a fraction of a second faster and moves his head out of the way which was a good thing because Chelia's fist left a small crater in its place and the impact echoes throughout the cave. Romeo wraps his arm around her and using his free arm grabs her head and slams her sideways off of him and into the hard ground next to them. Moving his body upward till he on top of her while bending her trapped arm at the same time he looks toward his exceed companion.

"A little help here would be nice!" he screams to which Bana only smirks.

"Nah you got this and beside my wounds are starting to act up", Bana replied.

"Why you little-why are you taking in a breath?", As Romeo is stop-mid curse to see that Chelia was inhaling a large amount of air.

" **SKY GOD'S BELLOW"** as Chelia releases a powerful blast directly into the ground and propels both of them upward with Romeo still on top on her. Bana is force to pull one of Romeo's blades of out the sheath and jams it into the ground to uses as an anchor so he wouldn't get blown away by the sheer force of the attack.

" _Ah fuc-"_ is all Romeo has time to think before his back collides with the cave ceiling causing the entire cave to shake once again. The impact also shakes him off of Chelia who maneuvers herself and lands gracefully on the ground while Romeo falls back down with a hard thump, but like a flash he back on his feet taking up a defensive stance.

"Oh, oh okay. I guess we're doing this now, aren't we?!", Romeo snarls as his patience with this girl was almost at an end.

"Payback a bitch isn't it?", Chelia counters as she fly toward him and unleashes a barrage of kicks to which Romeo narrowly dodges them while thinking…

" _Damn. She has gotten faster too. I can barely keep up less now than I could a week ago",_ as he feels the wind behind a kick that was aimed at his head, " _And unfortunately for all parties involve in this job she had to start a fight inside of a ball freezing cave."_

Romeo also happen to notice that certain...assets of Chelia were becoming more noticeable to Romeo due to the constant jumping around she was doing and the fact that it was, like he said, fucking cold.

" _Focus Romeo; keep your eyes locked onto her eyes. And her feet, and her hands, dammit Romeo just keep your eyes looking at anywhere that not her chest or her ass!"_

Romeo feels his back pressed into the cave wall and realizes he should have been paying more attention to his surrounding instead of Chelia's physique.

Romeo tilts his head a little to the left just in time to, by a small margin, dodge the magic encase punch that Chelia threw and once again it left a small crater afterward.

" _Okay twice now her punches have caused mini craters, now I know she gotten stronger since we last fought!"_

Acting quickly Romeo brings his left elbow straight up and slams it into her chin. This stuns Chelia for a moment allowing Romeo to bring both his right elbow and knee and land two simultaneous blows on her forehead and her gut forcing her to stagger back away from him.

"I'll admit!", Romeo starts to praise, "It damn impressive that you have gotten stronger and faster in such a short amount of time. But the one thing you still need to work on is your ability to take a hit", as Romeo delivers a brutal roundhouse kick to Chelia's head sending her to the ground.

"You should probably work on that when you have a chance", Romeo tells her just a moment before he force to hit the ground to avoid a blast of blacked wind that she shots at him. Romeo has just enough time to bring his head up off the ground only for it to receive a vicious kick that sends him soaring across the ground into the hard wall and lands him on his back.

" _Well forget what I said, damn_ _she recovers quickly",_ the dragon-slayer thinks as he opens his eyes to see a foot coming crashing down towards his face. He catches it with both his hands and to his complete shock finds himself struggling to hold it back. Then he notices Chelia had her arm stretch out toward him and was gathering black swirls in her hand.

"Any last words?", she growls.

"Yeah, you have severe anger issues and you must have some major back problems at your age", Romeo states as he twists her ankle to the point of breaking it causing her to roar in pain and prematurely fire off her magic upward into the roof of the cave. Colliding his arm into her leg and using all his strength is able to throw Chelia off-balance and brings her toppling face first into the ground. But before she could react Romeo is on top of her and grabs both her arms and brings them behind her back. Using one arm to immobilize them, Romeo outstretches his free one to Bana.

"Bana! I'm being serious this time! Throw me my blade!" Romeo yells while holding out his hand to which the exceed pulls the short sword he was using earlier out of the ground and throws it toward it. Romeo catches it by the handle and slides the blade under her Chelia's neck, pressing against her skin. He then whispers harshly into her ear...

"Go ahead and try to use your breath spell again. You'll be having hole on your neck if you do. Now you listen and you listen well. I do not have time for this shit. I'm trying to be nice here; I could have left your ass out there in that storm or even waited until after the blizzardvern killed you before I shot her. I could have bought your ass to the cave and let you freeze on the cold hard ground. I wasted my magic on you warming you up and I swear on my life I did nothing intentionally to take advantage of you. But your first thing you do when you wake up is to assault me without hearing my side of the story or even listen to the fact that I'm was trying to tell you that we are neck deep in some deep shit. My patience is wearing thin with you right now and I suggest you start playing nice. Now -"

Suddenly Romeo stops talking as he feels the cave shaking around him.

"Ah crap. Our fight must have disrupt the snow above us", Romeo states and sure enough the shaking increases until chunks of rock and snow were falling down from the cave ceiling. Romeo lets Chelia up, points to the back of the cave and yells…

"RUN!" as he barely avoids a sizable piece of falling rock.

"But my ankle still healing!", Chelia points out.

"Fine then!", Romeo screams as he grabs Bana and picks up Chelia over his shoulder with the other. He then takes off down to the rear end of the cave dodging falling rocks the entire way. The trio barely made it out alive into the tunnel that was connected to the cave as the campfire, the sleeping bag, their clothes, everything was buried under an avalanches of rocks. As the echoes of the cave-in die down the only thing heard throughout the barely lit tunnel was the heavy breathing of the two slayers.

"Put me down you perv", Chelia demands and Romeo simply throws her off his shoulder. The glare she sends him as she looks up could have melted the snow around them but he ignores it.

"Great now we're half-naked in a tunnel, in the middle of a mountain, which is in the middle of a blizzard", Chelia complained as she swats the snow off her, "Could this day possibly get any worse?"

"Well if you would have calm down and listen to what I had to say none of this would have happen." Romeo pointed out, "Seriously you didn't even give me a minute to fully explain myself."

"What and give you time to feed me your lies?" Chelia snaps back, "You're just another reckless dragon-slayer of Fairy Tail that does what he pleases! That all you Fairy Tail mages ever do, as you pleases with no regards to the damage you cause!"

Romeo stares incredulous, mouth agape at the girl for a few moments before speaking…

"Oooookay, this almost sounds like you have a personal grudge against dragon-slayers and Fairy Tail in general. Is there something I should know?" Romeo asked while Bana looks over at Chelia with a curious expression on his face.

"That's none of your damn business", Chelia replies.

"Seeing how I save your ass twice in one day I believe I'm entitled to know why you hate me", Romeo countered, "Also seeing how I'm the only way you're going to stay warm until we find something to cover ourselves up you might want to be more talkative."

"I can stay warm just fine thank you", Chelia informs Romeo as she twirls her arm in the air and the area that she, Romeo, and Bana were occupying suddenly increase in temperature to the point that Romeo notices the snow in the tunnel was starting to melt.

"What the fuck?" Romeo questioned.

"I change the cold wind within a certain radius to warm air", Chelia explained in the matter that you think she was telling this to a toddler, "It a technique I developed a few years back."

"Okay then mind explaining to me why you couldn't use this beforehand, like I don't know, in the middle of the blizzard?", Romeo inquired.

"There are limitations to this technique. In a blizzard I can't casually manipulate the wind because of the random powerful gusts. I couldn't do it when we were walking up the mountain cause the winds were too strong to manipulate without a spell, but because this tunnel in more compacted with no real outside factor I can control the wind to such a degree here without spending too much magic.", Chelia says as she pick up Bana and then snaps her fingers.

" _Wow, I must say I'm impress. I guess she really does have a talent for magic_ ", Romeo thought while staring at Chelia before realizing something, " _Why is it cold again_?"

"Judging by that idiotic look on your face you must be wondering why it suddenly freezing again", Chelia chuckles, "I constrict the hot wind to just my personal space."

"Wow that's how you treat the guy who saved your life two times today?"

"I own you nothing", Chelia says back as she started walking down the tunnel.

"You know hating someone without telling them the reason why you hate them is a sign of just plain hypocritical logic", Romeo called out to her making the god-slayer stop in her tracks. She takes a breath that was so deep that Romeo instinctively move to a fighting stance for the fear an attack from her but instead Chelia just turns around, clad in nothing more than her bra and panties and glares at him.

"Okay fine, you want to know why I hate you and Fairy Tail so much?" she asked.

"Not like there anything else is going to do while we see where this tunnel lead to", Romeo commented.

"Fine, but first you should know the background to the story I'm about to tell you. Back in X779, I was a happy three year old girl living in Haragon with my grandparents. Grandpa was a retired Rune Knights captain while grandma was a former traveling gypsy", Chelia told Romeo with a somewhat cheerily tone as she put Bana down.

"If you don't mind me asking, what happen to your folks?" Romeo asked.

She slightly turned away and wrapped her arms around herself.

"My family besides my grandma, grandpa, and Sherry were already killed in my family's homeland of Brago after one of Deliora's rampage. Sherry…she was really angry and left to chase the demon down." She looks back over at Romeo with a sad expression on her face.

Romeo could understand her pain to an extend, what with his mom walking out on him and his dad when he was only three years old and with Natsu, Wendy, and the rest of the Tenrou group being killed off seven years ago.

"I-I'm not mad at her for leaving us. I probably would have done the same. It's not like she could have taken care of me since she was only 13 at the time. So I went to live with my grandparents who retired to a house in Haragon, a house Grandpa Stewart build with his own two hands all by himself. They did their best to raise me right and they love me with all their heart." She smiled at the thought of her grandparents and the memories she had in that old home.

But the smile quickly faded and her blue eyes became like ice chips towards Romeo.

"Things were going alright, I was happy, we were a loving family until..." Chelia's face darken suddenly as her voice takes on a cold tone that sends shivers down Romeo' spine.

"Until?" Romeo asked.

"Until one day in X784 when something terrible happen. It was the day that my whole life changed, for it was that day that Natsu Dragneel came to Haragon looking for a mage name Salamander."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

The Past and the Mountain

** Haragon X784 **

**_ Flashback _ **

_"Grandma! Grandma!", an eight-year-old pink haired girl in a blue sundress yells out as she watches the pie bake in the oven, "Is it almost done?"_

_An elder lady who looked to be in her early fifties with faded pink haired and blue eyes strolls into the kitchen with a smile on her face, she takes a quick look into the oven before she pats the girl on the head._

_"Just a little while longer, Chelia", Grandma Blendy said as then moves to the living room where an elderly man sat in a recliner chair._

" _Now what are my two pretty, young, ladies up to this fine evening?", the man asked as he shook the sea salts out of his short dark blue hair while scratching his mustache, "For the smell of it, you are baking something delicious."_

" _Oh hush Charlie", Grandma Blendy giggled, "Stop trying to make me feel young again."_

" _But Abigail, my dear, you'll always be young in my eyes", Charlie said as he got up and engulf his wife in his arms to which she only laughs louder. All the while little Chelia stood there with stars in her eyes._

" _Wow! Grandma! Grandpa! Do you think I'll find anyone who can treat me with such love?", she asks, snapping her grandparents out of their romantic scene._

" _I'm sure one day you'll meet your knight in shining armor, Chelia", her grandma told her._

" _It will just be when you're much, much, older and after I threaten him with-", Charlie Blendy began to before receiving a light slap to his shoulder from his wife._

" _Charlie! You shouldn't being saying such stuff to a child", she reprimands him as she stared directly into his emerald green eyes, " Gods only know what thoughts you could be putting inside her head!"_

" _Oh come now dear, what's the worst that could happen-"_

_**BOOM!** _

_The house slightly rocks as all three occupants find themselves struggling to maintain their balance as the slight tremor occurs. Charlie was able to keep Abigail from falling over while Chelia was able to catch a nearby chair to balance herself._

" _What was that?!", Abigail panics as she moves over to make sure Chelia was okay._

" _While coming back from the docks I heard that some mages are in town and are causing trouble, could be them", Charlie explained, "I think one of their names was Salamander, also from what the lads describe one of them had pink hair or something."_

" _Well I hope they keep away from here and that the local guard handles them", Abigail voiced as she hugs Chelia in an effort to calm her down._

" _Ha! Those whelps couldn't handle a wet paper bag, let alone mages! Back when I was in the Rune Knights, we knew how to deal with mages and we kept them in line, but today troops are too soft, no backbone whatsoever and Fiore's Royal Army is even worse!", Charlie boasted seconds before another explosion goes off nearby and rocks the house._

" _Damn that sounded liked they're closer now!", Charlie curses, "Abigail, take Chelia and head down to the basement! I'll be there shortly after I get a few things from the closet!"_

_Abigail looks like she wanted to say something, but decided against it, "Okay but don't take too long!"_

" _I'll be along soon enough!"_

_Abigail and Chelia both head to the back of the main hallway where an alternate entrance to the basement laid in the floor. Abigail fidgeted with the lock all the while Chelia trembled in fright._

" _Grandma, is everything going to be okay?", the girl cried, "Is Grandpa going to be alright?"_

" _Chelia dear, everything will be fine, don't you worry your pretty little head off", Abigail assured her granddaughter as she finishes with the lock and pulls open the basement's entrance, "Now hurry and get in!"_

_Chelia was already halfway down the ladder and her grandma was right behind her when the sound of footsteps alarms both of the Blendy ladies to the presence down the hall. Abigail turns around and Chelia goes back up and pops her head out to see her grandpa running down the hallway with jewelry box and a large album book in his hands with relief washing over his face, "It took me a bit but I was able to get-"_

_The next words she heard would stay with Chelia for the rest of her life for its was the moment that she heard them that her life change forever._

" _Now that I've eaten, I feel re-energized! Here goes! **"FIRE DRAGON ROAR!** "_

_Within the blink of an eye, Chelia witness the house that both her Grandma and Grandpa built with their own two hands, become blanketed in flames. The same house where Chelia, her mother, and her aunt grew up in, buckle and collapse under the sheer weight of the explosion, tearing down what took almost a year to built within seconds. Chelia could only watch in horror as she saw through her own two eyes her grandfather become engulf in the flames and the pressure send him flying back, with the box and the album flying out of his hands and toward her grandma, whose caught them just in time for the full weight of the spell to come bearing down on them; the magnitude of it sending both of them flying to the basement floor while closing the lid down on top of them._

_End of Flashback_

_**Back in the Cave** _

"When my grandma and me awoke hours later, it was by the Royal Army troops who were looking through the debris for anyone who was buried underneath it", Chelia explained as she looked down at the ground while Romeo and Bana listen on, " When they helped us out of the basement we saw that their was nothing left of the house my grandparents built, nothing but charred remains. They patched up our wounds and when my grandma asks what happen, they told her everything."

"And your grandpa?", Bana asked

"Surprisingly he survived the whole ordeal, though barely; the army's medics were already working on him when they found us" , Chelia answered before a sad smile appeared across her face, "Funny thing is that if he had died, we could have press charges against Natsu Dragneel for manslaughter, but seeing how he lived and he was the worst of the injuries that day, no charges could be brought up against him as long as he paid the damages fines."

"What happen afterward?", Bana asks.

"Seeing how my grandparents built the house themselves instead of buying it from the Household guild, according to Fiore law, they weren't covered by insurance. Grandpa own a fishing boat but we couldn't sell that due to the fact that it was destroyed in a earlier skirmish between Natsu and Bora", Chelia painfully remembered, "The only up-side to that whole ordeal was that Grandpa was a retire Rune Knight Captain with over thirty years of services to the Magic Council, so all of his medical expenses were covered as were my grandma and me; sadly that was all they were willing to cover, though he still received his retirement paycheck."

"I see", Bana commented as he nodded his head.

"For the next few months we stayed at a friend's house while we waited for Grandpa to fully recover from his injuries, then we moved away from Haragon; none of us wanted to live in a town that was so close to such a destruct magic guild, so we hope on a train and left", Chelia explained.

Romeo noticed Chelia's voice starting to become quiet as she spoke the next words, "After that...that's when things took a turn for the worse."

Silence encased the tunnel they were in for the next few minutes, neither Romeo, Bana, or Chelia saying a word.

Mostly because Romeo didn't know what to say; what could he say? Even at a young age, Romeo knew that his idol was of a destructive nature. Hell, back then you couldn't go a week without hearing about how the Fire Dragon-Slayer destroyed some town, or wreck some random village while in the process of completing a job.

Back then it was easy to just laugh it off like the rest of the guild when they received some letter of complaint from the Magic Council or a bill from a town's mayor. But now here he was; talking to a victim of Natsu's unchecked wanton destruction.

It brings a whole different angle to everything Romeo loved about Fairy Tail back in those days.

...

...

...

"Chelia...I-"

"Don't say anything!", Chelia snaps at Romeo in a tone so harsh that it causes Bana to flinch and Romeo to take a step back from her, "I don't want your pity; I sure as hell don't want an apology from a Fairy Tail's dragon-slayer!"

"Look I'm...", Romeo tries again only to be cut off.

"The only constellation I've gotten in the past years since then is the fact that all of your dragon-slayers die on that island! Ironically, I have your "master" to thank for that!", Chelia shouted, her voice echoing throughout the cave.

What was once pity in Romeo's heart soon turn to anger as he went on the offensive against Chelia, " Hey, I lost a good chunk of my family that day!"

"Good, I guess that makes us even!", Chelia roared back, "Then you know what it's like for someone to ruin your life and not care less about it!"

Romeo could feel his hands itching to go for his blades and it took all of his self-control to keep from blasting Chelia away. It also may have help that she was still holding Bana and Romeo did not want to explain to Acnologia about why his exceed was chard to a crisp.

Eventually Romeo decided that the god-slayer wasn't worth the trouble and he started walking away from her down the cave; though it didn't take long for him to remember the fact that he was still in the middle of a mountain in nothing more than his boxers and he found himself constantly redirect his magic back and forth to keep warm. He barely picked up the sound of Chelia walking behind him though he could definitely feel the glare that was directed at him.

The trio travel for almost an hour and Romeo was starting to feel his magic waiver.

" _Dammit",_ Romeo cursed, " _I wasted too much magic on Chelia and now it'_ _s_ _coming to bite me in the ass."_

But before the young dragon-slayer could continue to berate himself, his nose picks up something in the air.

He suddenly holds up a hand as he sniffs the air, causing Chelia to stop in her tracks.

"Romeo, what is it?", Bana asks.

"Something nearby, something big", Romeo answers as he moves quietly toward the bend of the cave, "If it wasn't for the cold affecting my nose I would have picked it up sooner."

But that wasn't all Romeo could smell. He also picks up a familiar scent that he has grown accustomed to over the years serving underneath Acnologia...

The smell of human blood, lots of it.

He doesn't know why he left that part out in his answer to Bana. The exceed has seen way more acts of violence than Romeo has and didn't get faze in the slightest at the sight of them, so it must have been because of Chelia. Romeo didn't know how the girl would react to whatever was around this corner and that could mean the difference between whether or not he gets back to Magnolia.

"If there are gods up there listening I pray that she doesn't freak out", Romeo mumbles to himself as he crouches down and peaks his head around the corner.

And sure enough, there was a hulking primate creature standing down while chowing down on what seem to be the third member of the men who left the campsite Romeo used earlier to save Chelia if what remain of his attire was anything to go off of. The creature white fur was splatter with batches of blood as he munched on the neck of the man and during the process, Romeo was finally able to identify the beast.

" _It's a yeti",_ Romeo thought as he took in the animal horns on its head and remembers back to his time in Iceburg with Waru and Echor, " _But yetis don't have a taste for humans. They mainly stick to creatures of the mountainous region and have even been known to eat plants."_

As if he was reading his mind, Bana comes up next to Romeo and whispers, "It may be that the wyvern has driven the yetis off from their primary source of food and now they're resorting to easier prey."

"They may be true but what exactly drove the wyvern to this part of the mountain?", Romeo asks.

"Who knows?"

Romeo then hears Chelia walking toward him and Bana.

" _Oh great",_ Romeo thinks, " _Better stop this now before it's too late",_ as he moves to intercept Chelia before she gets too close, leaving Bana to keep an eye on the yeti.

"Wait", Romeo tells basically orders her in a low whisper.

"For what?", Chelia asks.

"There's something around the corner; something you don't need to see", Romeo explains.

To Romeo's sheer amazement; Chelia seemed to take offense to this statement as he saw her eyes narrow in a glare directed at him.

"I have you know that I'm not some pamper little princess who needs some brave knight to come and save her", Chelia snaps and shoves him to the side and moves to where Bana was.

Or at least she would have if Romeo didn't grab her arm as she walked by him. Chelia doesn't even look back at him as she speaks...

"Let...go", she orders.

"You need to start listening to what I say if you want to get home alive", Romeo tries to explain to her before his ears pick up a disturbing noise and his heart instantly sank.

The yeti was sniffing the air...hard.

" _No, his nose should be too deep in blood to smell us. Only if his nose picked up something extremely out of place here in the mountain would he smell..."_

And that's when Romeo smelled it.

The strong whiff of rose fragrance...coming from the girl whose arm he was holding.

"Are...are you wearing perfume?", Romeo asked in a solemn tone.

Chelia lifts an eyebrow at the question, "Of course I'm wearing perfume. Why do you ask?", she asks as she breaks her arm out of his grip.

He guesses that because he has gotten used to her scent that it was the reason he didn't notice it sooner and took precautions. But he doesn't have time to dwell on what he should have done as he hears giant footsteps coming down the cave tunnel toward them.

"It's coming", Bana simply said after he ducked his head back, "You best be ready."

"Ready for what?", Chelia asks as black swirls gather around her hands.

"There is a giant yeti approaching us at this very moment", Bana answered, "I suggest you save your magic and let Romeo handle this."

"I read about how big yetis can get; they're massive. And yet you expect me to trust my life to the shrimp here?", Chelia comments, missing the tick mark that appear on Romeo forehead at the size remark, though Bana didn't miss the way she looked unfazed by the fact that there was a man-eating creature heading toward them.

Romeo lets go of Chelia and press himself against the cave wall while putting out his both of his blades.

"Want me to just blast it away?", Chelia suggested.

"I just need you to stay where you are", Romeo says before a thought occurs to him, "Actually I need you to step back a couple of feet."

"Why?"

"You'll see", Romeo tells her as he prepares to strike and is actually surprise when Chelia steps back a bit.

" _Why is he standing so close from where the yeti is going to appear",_ The god-slayer thought before mentally shrugging to herself, " _Oh well, if he wants to get eaten I won't stop him."_

Romeo quickly runs through the plan in his head to take down the yeti; factoring in the smallest details exactly like he was trained to do over the past seven years. Finally, after calculating in all factors he sets his sights on what to come.

"Well on the bright side I might get a meal out of all this", he tells himself as a huge bloodied paw appears above him on the cave wall.

**Back in Magnolia**

"So what's it like not coming home to an empty house anymore?", Wakaba asks his oldest buddy as the two of them sat at the bar at the guild hall.

"Greatest feeling in the world, my friend", Macao answers as a genuine smile comes to his face, "It has been far too long."

"I hear that", Wakaba says.

The duo sits in silence for a bit as the seconds' tick by.

"Hey, Macao."

"Yeah, Wakaba?"

"News of Romeo's return and his fight with Chelia has spread pretty fast all over the country, if not beyond. It's bound to catch you-know-who attention", Wakaba states.

"Indeed it has", Macao says, "In fact, I received a letter from them just the other day stating how they'll be arriving in Magnolia the day after tomorrow."

"You're sure you're up to dealing with them?"

"I don't have a choice", Macao said as he drunk his mug full of water, "It was only a matter of time before word got to them, especially after the fight."

"Speaking of the fight", Wakaba said, trying to change the subject, "How do you think those two are doing with the job Bob gave them?"

"I'm sure Bob gave them nothing they couldn't handle", Macao answered, "I'm sure they're okay."

Suddenly Jet came bursting through the guild door, panting heavily.

"Jet! What the hell has gotten into you?", Wakaba asks.

"We-we got a problem! The Rune Knights are coming this way!", Jet screamed, "And you won't believe who's with them!"

**Mt. Hakobe**

The red-coated snarling face of the yeti appears from behind the cave wall; it eyes hungry for more blood. So primal was it gaze that even Chelia's breath got caught up in her throat; for its eyes were staring straight at her.

" _Wait a minute",_ A voice in the back of Chelia's head thought, " _Why hasn't it notice Romeo?"_

And sure enough, Romeo was completely ignored by the hulking beast as it stomped past him on its way toward Chelia. The god-slayer became to gather her magic when she noticed Bana behind the yeti simply shaking his head. He then shifts his eyes toward Romeo who was now stalking behind the monster and that's when Chelia froze.

Romeo's eyes have shifted. Not physically, but they no longer held the same feel to them that Chelia saw in Magnolia, Blue Pegasus, or even ten minutes ago. They were as cold as ice and as hard as steel. They were the eyes of the hunter, a stalker...

A predator on the prowl...

And the mighty yeti was the prey.

Chelia was having a hard time figuring out who was the real animal in that moment and even before she had a chance to come to a decision; Romeo with into action.

Sneaking silently through the snow, timing his footsteps with the monster breathing and snarling as it approaches Chelia with its claws extended and maw wide. Every fiber in the god slayer body was screaming for her to blast the beast into the cave wall, but a small part of her wanted to see if Romeo really could bring it down; while another small part of her wanted to see him fail.

Romeo continued stalking the yeti as it stomps ever closer to Chelia; savoring the moment right before the kill. As Bana watches from across the way as his charge ready his blade; he whispered in a low voice to himself.

"Steady your breathing, anticipate the target's actions, strike when they are at their most vulnerable", Bana whispered as Romeo crouches down and leaps.

That was when the yeti, sensing something dangerous behind it, swiftly turned around.

And in doing so received two swipes across its neck.

Chelia could only watch in pure shock as the blood that gushed out of the yeti neck splashes Romeo who doesn't even flinch as the beast collapse to the ground with its paws around its neck in a vain attempt to stem the massive flow of blood from its neck. As it thrashes about on the ground, it mouth wide open in a soundless roar, Romeo casually slides his blades back into their sheath and stare at the yeti. As the ground around him become red with blood and the movement of the monster start to lessen as the seconds tick away, Romeo only observe the yeti until it could barely lift its arm and its breathing became shallow.

"I bet you make a tasty treat", Romeo calmly says as he stands over the yeti, hold his left hand out and projects a white magic circle over yeti's body while another smaller one forms over his right hand. The symbols on them were foreign and unfamiliar to Chelia, who graduated at the top of her magic school and knew over a dozen ancient sets of hieroglyphs.

Both magic circles began to spin at a rapid pace until they were white blurs, creating a humming sound that set Chelia a little on edge for some reason and she witness a white mist-like material start to rise from the yeti's body and into the larger magic circle which then transfer over the smaller magic circle that was hovering over Romeo's hand. Soon the mist takes the form of an orb in his palm and Chelia notices that the yeti has finally stopped moving and that its eyes have gone eerily blank.

"Well, that was fun", Romeo simply says as he puts the orb into his mouth and swallows, "Tasty treat though."

"Are you feeling better?", Bana asks.

"Oh yeah, almost fully charge after that snack", Romeo replies as he once again takes a blade out and begins to cut into the yeti; only stopping with the sound of heavy breathing fills his ears. As he looks up to see what was creating the noise, he sees Chelia standing there with a look on her face that Romeo swore he would have been afraid of if he hadn't spend the last seven years of his life under Acnologia's tutelage.

"What's your problem?", Romeo asks the girl who was beginning to form black swirl around herself and was literally trembling.

"What", Chelia started to say in a tone that conveys her barely contained fury, "was that all about?"

"You mean the magic circles?", Romeo said, "Well, they're used to allow me to-"

"I don't mean that!", Chelia barked, " I meant the thing with the yeti! How did it not notice you right underneath it and decided to come after me instead?"

"I thought you were supposed to be some type of genius or something", Romeo commented while going back to the task at hand with his blades and the yeti corpse, "I also thought you said you read up on yetis."

"I am and I did!", Chelia roared, the wind around her growing ever more fierce with each passing moment.

"Then you should know that yetis have an extremely sensitive nose and go berserk whenever something irritates it", Romeo explained, "They are simple-minded and will go the distance to rid themselves of the smell that's bothering them."

"That wasn't in any of the books I read!", Chelia tried to argue as her winds started to die down.

"Those books were probably written by people who have never hunted or been hunted by yetis before", Romeo stated as he finished skinning the beast.

"Are you saying you have?" Chelia asks, feeling slightly gross out by what she was seeing the boy do,

"Of course, how else would I know that yeti's fur makes for a good coat?", Romeo said as he began cleaning the pelt, "Since you won't let me into your bubble and I don't want to waste my magic anymore, I going with this option", as he finishes up.

"That brings me to my second question. Why didn't you just use magic to kill the yeti?"

"His magic would have severely damaged the beast and thus he wouldn't have been able to acquire a fur coat or devour its soul", Bana bluntly states as he walks over to Chelia whose eyes had now widened in shock.

"I-I-Its what?" the god-slayer stuttered.

"Its soul; yes, I ate its soul. It's Acnologia's slayer element; therefore it is mine as well! ", Romeo blurted out, "Can we please move on now?"

…

….

Chelia was shocked and Romeo could easily tell that she was.

" _She really is the last person I expected to first have this conversation with",_ Romeo thought, remembering back to how the whole time he has been back that not a single person; including his father or Lindsay, has asked him what exactly his element is as a dragon-slayer.

" _Maybe they think eventually it will get around to that",_ Romeo thought, " _Or maybe they just don't want to know and are avoiding the question_ _."_

"Do you-" Chelia started to ask, snapping Romeo out of his thoughts.

"If the next words out of your mouth are whether or not I have eaten any human souls, then you should realize that you were unconscious for hours and I wasted a large amount of magic keeping you warm; but yet you're still here, while I up still now was running on fumes", as he flak the skinned fur.

"Is this going to be a problem?", Bana asks as he looked up at Chelia, "If this is going to cause issues that will make getting down this mountain harder than it already is; then I suggest we part ways now."

Chelia looks down at the exceed in shock, "Excuse me?"

"If you're going to be looking over your shoulder every five seconds cause you're afraid that Romeo going to snatch the very life from right out of you, then we should go our separate ways and thus avoid causing trouble for each other", Bana explained once more as Romeo wrapped what was once the yeti's back fur around him; not being the slightest bother by the fact that he didn't clean all the blood off it.

"I don't care either way whether she decided to stay with us or go off on her own; all I know is that this whole damn job was a failure because not only did we lose the plants but we have also gotten ourselves lost. At this point I just what to get home as soon as possible", Romeo complained as he starts walking toward the half-eaten remains of the camper the yeti was munching on before its demise and proceed to pillage the body.

"Sweet! Found a compass and a map", Romeo said as he held said items up in the air, "A little blood, a little gut, but other than that, good as new!"

Romeo hears a faint gasp behind him and half-turns his head around to see Chelia standing there with a disgusted look on her face and he was pretty sure it was due to the corpse in front of him.

"There are also some half eaten clothes here as well if you want to keep warm."

"I hope that was a poor attempt of you trying to make a joke", Chelia answered.

"Fine then waste your magic trying to keep warm", Romeo shrugs as he finishes up and takes a look at the map while holding the compass up.

"According to this map; if we find a way out through the west, we should come out close to Yuka village", he mutters to himself before he starts walking back toward Chelia. He was just going walk by and ignore her completely when her voice pierces through the silence.

"Hey"

"What?"

"What happen to your eyes right before you killed the yeti?", Chelia asks.

"Eh? What are you talking about?", Romeo said as he raises an eyebrow, "My eyes didn't change at all."

"Yes, they did! They became colder the cave itself! It was like you became a totally different person!", Chelia shouted as she stomped her foot, causing Romeo to look away from her while covering up his nose.

"Okay, I'm going to need you to stop doing that cause I like my blood when it inside of me", Romeo states causing Chelia to cover her chest up in response.

"Pervert."

"You started it with your "weird eyes" bit", Romeo grumbled, "And it not like you been trying to cover yourself up or anything."

"While it's your fault for not controlling your hormones; I believe Chelia is referring to when you go "on the prowl" if her description is correct", Bana explained as he walks in between the two.

"Oh that's what you're talking about?", Romeo says as he starts walking away once more.

Chelia watches as he does so, "That's it? You're not even going to tell me about this prowl thing or whatever it is?"

"Trust me", Romeo calls back over his shoulder while still walking, " The less you know about it; the better. For the day may come when Acnologia will once again see a god-slayer as a threat."

It would be a good two minutes before Chelia recovered from the shock of Romeo's words and by then she had to run to catch up with him.

** Three Hours later **

Chelia could feel are limbs starting to go numb, even with Bana wrapped in her arms. The constant drain her magic to keep the air around her warm along with her healing magic working to keep her feet from getting frostbite was starting to get to her and she could feel her bubble of heat start to faint away while she noticed that Romeo was looking way more comfortable walking alongside her; though he still shivered every now and then. She noticed that he had a distance look in his eye, as though as he wasn't sloshing about in a cave, but rather somewhere else.

" _I hate the cold",_ Romeo thought, " _It reminds me of Ic- no, I don't have time to dwell on the past ",_ as he shakes his head and moves to listen. His eyebrows arch up as he picks up an out-of-place noise.

"What is it, Romeo?", Bana asks from his position within the arms of Chelia.

"I think the cold starting to get to me; but I think I hear... engines?", Romeo questioned himself as he took off in a sprint through the cave.

"Hey! Wait up!", Chelia cried as she takes off after him.

Romeo led Chelia and Bana on a maze through the caverns; using the faint noise of whatever he was hearing to guide him. After a good two minutes of running, he leads them out into the open air of the mountain and right into the sight of Blue Pegasus' magic airship, where Bob, The Trimenses, and Jenny awaited them.

"Oh thanks the gods!", Bob voice sounded over a loudspeaker, "You both are okay-", he started to say before he stops upon finally noticing the attire or lack thereof that both Romeo and Chelia had on.

"Oh mind, kids these days mature so fast", he mumbled to himself.

It would be some time later, after Romeo and Chelia profusely explained the reason why they were in their underwear and after they recovered their clothes buried beneath the rock, (turns out that being a guild master, Bob knew enough Earth magic to move boulders quite easily. Though he wasn't on Jura level, he was still proficient in it), that Bob explain the reason why they came to the mountain despite the fact that Romeo, Chelia, and Bana were not gone long enough for a search party to be sent after them.

"The Rune Knights want to investigate me?" , Romeo asks while sitting on the window ledge, watching the landscape pass by as the airship sped toward Magnolia. Chelia sat across the room on a nearby couch while Bana was getting bandaged up in the medical ward.

"That's correct", Bob confirmed, "Your father called me not too long ago and asked that I bring you back home at once.

"Can't say I'm surprised", Romeo shrugged, "I expected they come knocking sooner or later; though I must say I'm curious by their approach."

"Aren't you the least bit worry?", Chelia asked, "This is the Magic Council and the Rune Knights we're talking about here."

"If I thought the Magic Council would try a more aggressive approach to my arrival; I probably wouldn't have started a fight with you", Romeo replies.

"What's that suppose to mean?", Chelia said in a slightly cold tone.

"It means that the Magic Council doesn't want to start a war with Acnologia", Bob interjected before looking toward Romeo, "Am I right?"

"Exactly", Romeo confirmed, "As much as I hate to admit it, Acnologia's power stretches far and wide. He has forces in countries that most people never even heard about and I'm one of his six most valuable assets being a slayer personally taught by him. For an official government body to attack me is basically them declaring war on Acnologia himself, who will see it as an insult to himself."

"So basically you can do as you please with no fear of retaliation?", Chelia questioned, "You're hiding behind Acnologia's shadow."

"Not exactly; while Acnologia's power may scare weaker forces from acting against me; it won't discourage all of them. The more brazen ones, like Acnologia's rivals, will try to kill me as a way to demonstrate their own power and undermine Acnologia's, so I still have a target on my back", Romeo explained before a smile flashes across his face, "And as you well know, I can handle my own quite well."

"That remains to be seen", Chelia stated, "And what if someone like Jura-sama or another Wizard Saint was to attack you?"

"Well, I would be screw then", Romeo admitted, "I may be powerful for my age, but I'm not going to stand a chance against someone like Jura."

"Romeo, I've been wanting to talk to you about something", Bob said.

"About what?", Romeo wondered.

"About how Acnologia allowed you to come home; apparently with no strings attach, I heard."

"Besides the conditions he lay out for me, yeah. Pretty much told me that as long as I follow those terms and don't cause trouble for him, I can come home", Romeo explained.

"And you don't think that's strange at all?", Chelia asks.

"Of course I think it's strange", Romeo admitted, "But I know better than to question it. He does not take kindly to people questioning his orders."

"I can only imagine", Bob said as he looks out the window, "We should be there in a moment, so I suggest you get ready to meet with them."

"How bad could it be?", Romeo joked.

"With the council, you never know", Bob answered as he made his way to the bridge leaving Romeo and Chelia alone in the lounge.

The room is eerily silent except for the noise of the ship engine in the background as the two teen stare one another down. Romeo stood there with a baffled expression on his face mostly because the God-Slayer across the room was staring at him with a focused look as if she was seriously contemplating something.

"Okay, this is awkward", Romeo says in an effort to break the silence, "I guess I'll get going now then-"

"Did it ever cross your mind?", Chelia asks out of the blue, catching Romeo off-guard.

"Huh?"

"Did it ever cross your mind?", Chelia asked again.

"Did what ever cross my mind?", Romeo wondered, not sure of what she was talking about.

"Just leaving me behind", Chelia explained, "You had a number of opportunities to just let me die, yet you chose not too."

Romeo did a quick recap in his mind of the day's events before coming to a conclusion….

" _Huh, w_ _hy did I go out of my way to save her? She almost got me killed a couple times",_ Romeo thought before speaking, "I don't know, I guess I just couldn't."

"You just couldn't?"

"Like I said, I just couldn't, wouldn't have been right. You are way more trouble than you're worth, but in the end you really haven't done anything that warrants me leaving you to your death", Romeo answered while shrugging, "Plus I didn't want to deal with the backlash of said death, I got enough problems on my hands as it is."

'Even though I attacked you?", Chelia asks, not believing him for a sec.

"I handled you well enough", Romeo replied waiting for the aggressive reaction to his taunt, but to his surprise, it never came. Instead, god-slayer just stood there once again thinking hard about something.

"So what was it like?", she asked after a moment.

"Are we doing this again?", Romeo said while throwing her a look of slight annoyance, "Just tell me what you want to know."

"What was it like the day Acnologia came to Magnolia?"

Once again the engine is all that could be heard throughout the lounge, as Romeo's mind tries to think of a response.

"You don't know? I thought for sure by now there would be documentaries, survivor's interviews, books, and whatnot on what happened that day", Romeo says with a distance tone in his voice, "Why do you want my side of the story?"

"You're right, there have been a lot of interviews and lacrima specials on what happen that day", Chelia told him, "But they have always left one part out that until recently that no one could get an account of."

"Oh, and what's that?", Romeo wondered.

"What was the attack like through the eyes of the little boy who was taken away by Acnologia?", Chelia answered.

"Why do you want to know all of a sudden?"

"I figure since I told you about one of the worst days of my life, you could tell me about one of yours", Chelia said as she moves over to Romeo and sat down on a nearby couch.

"I'm pretty sure that was payback for saving your life a couple times", Romeo pointed out.

"Now that I recall, I saved yours and Bana's lives a couple of times as well, with me fighting off the wyvern and healing you up and whatnot", Chelia slightly grin, "I deserve some compensate for wasting my magic on you."

"I kept you from freezing to death", Romeo argued.

"But you also got to see and feel more of this wonderful body of mine than any other man alive", Chelia recalled while stretching her arms upward while leaning back a little, making sure her "assets" were shown to the fullest. She was taught this by her cousin and knew that it was certain to catch Romeo's full attention, "Or did you forget that? I deserve some sort of compensation for you basically groping me."

" _Gods damn_ _this girl, it was not my fault she develop hyperthermia_ _!",_ Romeo thought as he turns his head away, a glowing blush on his face, " _I shouldn't be acting like this, sure I wasn't around girls a lot during my time with Acnologia, but this is embarrassing; it's almost as bad as the sleeping bag. I didn't act like this at all when I saw Lindsay, though truth be told she didn't look that much different_ _from_ _the last time I saw her all those years ago, puberty was not kind to her."_

Chelia, oblivious to Romeo's inner turmoil, continue on with the topic at hand, "Now like I was saying-"

"I was waiting for them to come home, Natsu and the others", Romeo interrupted in a sullen voice as he recalls that day, while a small part of him was thankful for the change of subject, "I was watching from the bell tower in the old guild hall with Lindsay through a pair of binoculars that Levy got me for my birthday."

Romeo moved to lie down on the couch across from the one Chelia was sitting on…

"It was just like any other day, I guess. It's not like anyone in town that day was expecting a genocidal dragon of legend to show up. There was some slight concern about the guys from Tenrou being a day late, but we chalk it up to Natsu probably destroying the ship by accident, so no one was really that worry about it", Romeo went on as his eyes adapted a distance look in them and he stared up at the ceiling.

"How did you react when you heard he was coming?", Chelia asked causing Romeo turn his head and stare at her.

"When I heard he was coming? What's that suppose to mean?" Romeo asked.

"A number of survivors say that they saw Acnologia coming from miles away and they raise the alarm," Chelia explained.

"That is utter bullshit", Romeo told her," He caught everyone completely off-guard."

"How do you know this?", Chelia wondered, "In every account, it's mention that he came via Haragon and some people there say they saw him fly over the town."

Romeo actually had the galls to laugh at this point, "Oh man, that's rich! People will even use a disaster of that level just to get a few minutes of fame!"

"What are you talking about?", Chelia asked.

"Acnologia came from behind Magnolia, over the lake behind the old Fairy Tail guild hall", Romeo answered.

"And you know this how?"

"Like I said, I was up in the bell tower of the guild hall with Lindsay, watching for Natsu and them to come home", Romeo told her as he went back to looking up at the ceiling, "Together we saw the coming of the Apocalypse and there wasn't a damn thing we could do about."

_ **Magnolia X784** _

_"Let me see, let me see!", a seven-year-old Lindsay Mine yelled as she struggled to grab hold of the binoculars that a seven-year-old Romeo Conbolt was holding, "I want to look through it too!"_

_"No way! Levy got this for me and I'm going to use it to be the first to see Natsu and the rest of the guys come home!", Romeo argued as he stuck his tongue out at her._

_**"** You little brat!", Lindsay yells as she tackles Romeo to the ground and the duo wrestles across the room. Suddenly the two of them each feel a pair of hands pick them up and moved them away from one another._

_"Alright you two, calm down!", Macao laughs as he holds his son._

_"Yeah, you guys can wait until you're a little older before you start having your lover's spasm", Wakaba adds as he holds Lindsay up._

_Thankfully for both of the fathers, the comment flies over the heads of both children._

_"Well, I was trying to take a look through the binoculars and Romeo wouldn't let me!", Lindsay whined._

_"Well Lindsay, Levy did get it for Romeo's birthday, so it's his", Wakaba explained, "You have to ask him if you can see it."_

_Lindsay pouted for a moment before speaking, "Romeo, can I please use your binoculars?"_

_"No, you stinky breath- ack!", Romeo cries out as his father lightly swats him upside the head._

_"Be nice, she's asking politely", he grumbles at his only child._

_"Okay", Romeo whines, "Yes Lindsay, you can use my binoculars."_

_With a speed that surprises all the men in the room, Lindsay got out of her father's arms, snatches the binoculars from Romeo's hands and was looking outward at Magnolia through it in the span of one heartbeat._

_"Wow, you can see everything through this!", she squeals._

_" She just put Jet to shame with that speed!", Macao and Wakaba thought while Romeo's jaw simply drops in amazement._

_Macao is the first to come out of his trance as he puts Romeo down and drapes his arm around Wakaba's shoulder, "Well, we done our parenting for the day, time to grab a drink!"_

_Wakaba shakes his head and smiles at his friend, "You're right about that! Better do so now before Cana gets back and takes all the booze."_

_As both parents leave, Romeo crosses his arms and glares at the back of Lindsay who continued to use his binocular for her own amusement._

_"I can see my house from here and I can see your house from here too!"_

_"Little cry baby", Romeo grumbled._

_Rawwwwwwrrrrrrrrrr **!**_

_Something behind Romeo catches his attention as he heard a faint noise coming from the direction of the lake behind the guild hall._

_"What was that?", Romeo wonders before he heard, this time a little louder._

_**Rawwwwwwrrrrrrrr!** _

_Seemingly this time, Lindsay notices as well as she turns around looking at Romeo with a bewildered look on her face, "What was that?"_

_"I don't know but it's coming from the direction of the lake and I think it's getting louder; can I see those binocular?", Romeo says as he continues looking out at the lake._

_Lindsay sprints over to where Romeo was looking and head him the binocular back and watches as he takes a look through them._

_"What do you see?", she asks as she looks out herself._

_"Nothing yet", Romeo answered as he looks at possible spots where the sound originated from, "Might have been just the wind or some-"_

_Lindsay notices that Romeo has stopped talking and looks over to see what was wrong. Her eyes go wide as she sees that his body was shaking violently while sweat was literally pouring down his face all the while she could hear his frantic breathing._

_"Romeo, are you alright?"_

_"Dr-Dr-Dr-Dr-", was the response she got back._

_"What? Romeo, what's wrong with you?", Lindsay asks as she tries to take the binocular out of his hands so she could see for herself. To her surprise, Romeo had them in an iron grip and refuse to let go of them._

_"Okay Romeo, let me see-",_

_Something across the lake caught the girl's attention from the side of her eye. As she turns to see what it was, she lets out a scream in fright as Romeo finally blurts out what he was trying to say..._

_"Dragon!"_

_**RAWWWWWWWRRRRRRRRRRRR!** _

_A second later, the upper half of the Fairy Tail Guild Hall exploded into a storm of debris and death as the Dragon King charges right through it and began his assault on the town of Magnolia._


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

**Knights, Wizard Saints, and Assassins, God Damn.**

"Romeo! Chelia!" Bob's voice over the intercom rang out, "We're making our final approach to the Fairy Tail guild hall, get ready to disembark!"

Romeo sits up from his position on the couch and begins walking toward the door, "Well, I guess this is my stop."

"Woah, Woah, Woah!" Chelia yells while waving her hands, "You're not going to tell me the rest of the story?!"

"Um, in case you haven't noticed, I'm about to leave", Romeo points out. Chelia takes a gander out the window.

"We're like ten, maybe fifteen minutes from landing, surely you can tell me more", Chelia says and is caught off-guard when Romeo crosses his arms and stares at her with an almost bewildered expression.

"Oh, I'm sorry" Romeo starts as he crosses his arms and stares at her, "Did I miss the memo that said we were best friends all of a sudden?"

"Huh?" Was Chelia only response.

"You honestly don't expect me to relive the worst day of my life just to satisfy your curiosity, do you?" Romeo asks as he held up one finger, "You started a fight with me on the day I finally return home after seven years. You have insulted my friends and family, even beat them up for no other reason than your own pride. Your stubbornness and recklessness almost got us killed today and you have the audacity to take your anger out on me for something that happened seven years ago that I had nothing to do with. The way I see it, you're lucky I told you that much and you're lucky that I don't sock you in the face because that is all you deserve from me."

"Wait a damn minute!" Chelia screams as she stomps her foot, slightly shaking the compartment, "I save both you and Bana's lives!"

"And I saved yours, so we're even on that part." Romeo counters.

"And what about Bana?!" Chelia roars.

"Think of it this way, he would have never been in that situation if a certain someone had kept their superority complex in check." Romeo points out.

And with that, Romeo turns toward the door and stomps out, leaving a fuming Chelia in his wake. Dark winds began to swirl around her body as she started to tremble, narrowing her eyes and curling her hands into fists, squeezing so hard that her nails drew blood. As her healing magic kicked in, a voice full of venom seethed through the girl's teeth.

"I was just going to beat the crap out of you the next time we fought...now I'm going to humiliate you!"

**Outside of the Guild Hall**

"Okay", Romeo starts as he pinches the bridge of his nose, "I get that I'm one of the four slayers of the dragon who's considered the personification of the Apocalypse and all. I also get that the little fight me and Chelia had a while ago and the destruction we caused could maybe be cause for alarm among the Magic Council."

Romeo then points at the mass formation of men that were standing in front of him, Bob, Chelia, and Bana, with their shields up and spears at the ready, pointing them back at him, "But do I really warrant five full companies of Rune Knights showing up?!"

"I have to admitted that even I'm a little shock that they send five hundred of their men to "greet" you", Bana agreed.

"Oh my, I don't think there were so many knights in Magnolia even after the Fairy Tail/ Phantom Lord War seven years ago", Bob added.

Suddenly a man wearing a different attire then the rest of the knights step forward...

"Romeo Conbolt!", the man shouted.

"Yeah, that's me," Romeo responded nonchalantly.

"I am Captain Lahar of the Rune Knights! I have been ordered by the Magic Council to investigate your appearance in Fiore! You are to comply with any order I give to you without haste! My first order is that you hand over your weapons!"

"And what if I say no?" Romeo's reply caused some of the rank and file knights to stare at him in shock at such clear defiance of their captain's orders.

"I beg your pardon?"

"I mean, what do I get out of handing over my blades to you? Surely you don't need to confiscate them in order to talk to me."

"Hey, maybe this isn't the time to act like a big shot" Chelia, still extremely miff from the ass-chewing she received earlier, warned Romeo who didn't even glance back at her, "Probably be for the best if you just comply with their orders."

"You don't seem to understand; if word gets back to Acnologia about me willfully complying with the Magic Council's orders, bad things will happen to me", Romeo said.

"How would he ever find out? Is Bana going to tell him?"

"You have no idea the size of Acnologia's web of information is", Romeo informed her, "I guarantee that no less than three of those knights in front of us are informants for the Dragon King."

"Wait, what?", Chelia gasp, but Romeo was already walking toward the captain by that point, ignoring the spears that were being drawn on him.

"Captain Lahar, is it?", he asks as he got up to the Rune Knights' commander.

"Correct", the man answers.

"I'll compromise with you, I'll give you one of my blades while I keep the other, that way you're technically able to complete your orders", Romeo suggested and watches in amusement as Lahar's face contort into an expression of absolute rage.

"Unacceptable! My orders were to confiscate all your weapons and I will follow that-", he erupts just as a Rune Knight sergeant comes running up next to Captain Lahar and pops a salute.

"Sir, I have important orders for you, sir!", he shouts and Lahar instantly redirects his anger to him.

"Sergeant, you better have a damn good reason for interrupting me!", he roars as the nervous sergeant proceed to whisper in his ear. Captain Lahar and Romeo's (who most people forget has enhanced hearing) eyes go wide as the message is relayed.

"Are you sure about this, sergeant?", Lahar questions to which the sergeant nods frivolously.

"Sir, yes, sir! He was adamantly clear about this!"

Lahar takes a deep breath and slowly exhale as he composes himself and turns to look at Romeo and surprisingly, Chelia, "It would seem that there has been a change of plans. Romeo Conbolt, your investigation will be conducted by God Serena of the Wizards Saints while I am to interview Miss Chelia Blendy."

"Me?", Chelia questions aloud as a pair of Rune Knights came and escorted her toward the small campsite the Rune Knights had set up, "Why me?"

"Well, Miss Blendy, according to our intel, outside of the Fairy Tail guild members, you have spent the most time with Romeo Conbolt, in fact, we have been informed that you're just coming back from a job with him. Because of this, the Magic Council would like your input on a few things; an outside opinion if you will", Lahar explains as he looks toward the young boy "Romeo Conbolt, you alone are to meet God Serena in your guild master's office. I trust that I don't have to have an armed escort take you there."

"Nah, I think I'll find the way. I get to keep my blades, right?", Romeo smiled as he watches a twitch mark appear on Lahar's forehead.

"Yes…you may", Lahar strains to say, catching Romeo's attention, "But the first sign of aggressiveness..."

"I'm sure it won't come to that", Romeo says as he heads into the guild hall, on the outside, he was the spitting image of confidence, though on the inside…

" _Oh, shit! Oh, shit! Oh, shit! I've only been home less than a month and already I'm dealing with God Serena! What do I do? What do I do? I couldn't take on Jura-sama if I wanted, what chance do I have against the top Wizard Saint should he decide to get rid of me? I wish Waru and Echor were here! Hell, I'd even take the Fourth Cataclysm who I have never seen before as well! Maybe with all of them here I wouldn't be so terrified right now! I think I feel my heart about to jump out of my chest!",_ as he shakily closes the door leaving behind an enraged Lahar and a face-palming Bana.

As Romeo disappears into the building, Captain Lahar once more composes himself and heads for the tent where Chelia was currently sitting down at a table. Captain Lahar pulls out a folder and began flipping through it as he sat down. One of the pages caught Chelia's eye as she notices it had her magic guild profile picture on it.

"Sherria "Chelia" Blendy of the magic guild, Lamia Scale. Was born in the country of Isvan and just recently turned fifteen. Your parents were Rikada and Victoria Blendy and you have no siblings, though you are first cousins with Sherry Blendy, also of Lamia Scale. Your magic is Wind Magic along with the rare Sky God-Slayer magic which is extremely valuable to any magic guild due to its healing properties", Lahar began to read off.

" _Is he about to go through my whole life story now?",_ Chelia thought.

"You were accepted into the Fiore Royal Magic Academy and graduated with top honors, valedictorian even. That's quite an accomplishment for someone who prior to the Academy only received the bare minimum of magical education, if that", Lahar notes, failing to notice the small twitch mark that appears on Chelia's forehead.

" _What is he getting at? I thought he was going to ask me a question about Romeo. He also seems to be jumping back and forth in my life, not going in any particular order",_ Chelia thought.

Lahar continues scrolling through the pages until he found something that interests him, "Huh, but it would seem that it wasn't smooth sailing the whole way. It says here you were only a few months in and you got into an altercation, leaving four other students hospitalized, including a high-ranking noble's daughter."

"That was in self-defense, they attack me first", Chelia admitted, keeping her answer clear and to the point, something Sherry taught her to do if she ever had to deal with the Rune Knights.

"That is what it says on your record. Mind if I ask what may have caused this incident?", Lahar asked.

"They said that low-class trash like me didn't belong at the academy and that I was only there as a "pity case" or something along that lines", Chelia answers in a neutral tone, "The fact that I was a foreigner didn't help things either."

"If I recall, tensions were high at the time between Fiore and Isvan following a few naval skirmishes and trading disputes, so I'm not all that surprised. Must have been hard for you to make friends there", Lahar said.

"I got by just fine", Chelia replied as she crosses her arms, her patience wearing thin as bad memories she thought she had buried were finding their way back up.

"So, I see, now it says here that you were given a scholarship by Gran Doma", Lahar points out.

"Even to this day, I don't know why he gave it to me", Chelia confesses, "One day, I received a letter in the mail and a week later, I was attending the academy."

"Strange, but who am I to question the chairman's decisions? Moving back a bit, your parents were killed in a Deliora incident when you were young, afterward, you were taken in by your grandparents, a Miss Abigail Blendy, former traveling gypsy, and Mr. Charles Blendy- retired Rune Knight's Captain... of the 4th Custody Enforcement Unit?", Lahar said as he puts down the paper and looks wide-eyed at the girl, "Your grandfather is Charlie the Iron Bull?"

"You knew him?", Chelia asks.

"Briefly, I was a new recruit just getting into the fourth while he was turning over to the captain that I would eventually replace. Talk to him a couple of times, but mostly what I know about him is through the stories I've heard. I heard that he once took on a dozen dark mages by himself with nothing more than his spear and shield while waiting for reinforcements and came out of it without a scratch", Lahar reminisced.

"Yeah, I remember him telling me that story. The part that most people don't hear is the fact that he did receive some injuries that day", Chelia smiled.

"From who?"

"From my grandma, after she found out about it", Chelia laughs.

"How is he doing these days?", Lahar asks and is visibly surprise when he sees Chelia's face takes on a darker tone, "Miss Blendy?"

"He died seven years ago at Oshibana Station", she answers after a moment of silence, causing Lahar to look on in shock.

"I'm sorry for your loss, but I must confess this is the first time of me hearing about this.", Lahar states, receiving a baffle expression from Chelia in return, " _It's not even on her record."_

"Is that...surprising?", she wonders.

"You see Miss Blendy when the old captain of a unit passes away, they are given a Rune Knight's funeral, paid for by the Magic Council, and the current captain of the unit is mandatorily required to attend the service and render honors to him in place of the unit. If you're saying he died seven years ago, then that would have been around the time that I recently accepted the position as the captain of the fourth; yet, I received no notification of his death", Lahar explains as he tries to recall whether or not he received a letter about this.

"Really, because we had to bury him in Oshibana and my grandmother had to sell her wedding ring to pay for it", Chelia says causing a little anger to rise up in her. Unknowingly, this causes a raging feeling to bubble up in Lahar's gut as well.

"Well, then I assure you Miss Blendy, that I will get to the bottom of this, but first I must conduct my interview", Lahar says as he clears his throat,  _"I certainly hope this is nothing more than a mix-up."_

A period of silence follows before Lahar coughs and proceeds...

"Miss Blendy, first I must assure you this is nothing more than a formal investigation. You're not accused of anything and while you did cost damage to the town of Magnolia, we have been informed that the damages have been paid in full and there were surprisingly no civilian injuries", Lahar informed the girl, "This entire interview is solely based on your interaction with Romeo Conbolt, do you understand this, Miss Blendy?"

Chelia nods her head after a moment.

"Good, then we shall begin", Lahar says as he pulls out a pen and notepad, "First question, before his return to Magnolia awhile back, did you know Romeo Conbolt at all?"

Chelia shakes her head, "Personally, no. Whatever I knew about him was through documentary video and news articles covering the attack on Magnolia all those years ago."

Lahar scribbles something down on his notepad, "Okay, next question. What was your first impression of the boy?"

Chelia ponders the question in her head for a moment before answering, "Different, my first impression of him was that he was certainly different."

"How so?"

"Well you see, captain, being a user of such a rare and powerful magic such as god-slaying, I have gotten my share of unique reactions from people over the years. Some have been amazed by my magic, others have been frightful, and even a few of them have been akin to jealousy. The fact that the other known god-slayer in Fiore regularly flaunts his power has been both good and bad for my own reputation", Chelia spoke.

"I can't deny that", Lahar confesses, "The Thunder god-slayer of Sabertooth has been told multiple times to throttle back on his magic when he unleashes it on criminals, but please continue."

"Well, Romeo seems unimpressed by my god-slayer magic, even stating that I wasn't the first God-Slayer that he ever fought", Chelia explained.

"What do you mean by that?"

"He has told me that he fought the Ice God-Slayer before in Iceberg", Chelia tells Lahar, "Like two years ago or somewhat."

" _The Ice God-Slayer was an Iceberg noble who was assassinated by two men",_ Lahar recalled, because he remembers the Fifth Custody Enforcement unit oversaw that case, " _When did the boy encounter him? I'll have to look over the investigation reports."_

"Just a few more questions, Miss Chelia", Lahar says, "Has Romeo Conbolt shown any signs of unprovoked aggressiveness in the time you spend with him?"

Now that question gave Chelia pause as she thought back to what just happened earlier today with Romeo holding one of his blades to her throat. She could tell by the look in Captain Lahar's eyes that he was expecting her to say yes, almost begging for it, and quite frankly, she wouldn't be lying. Just a few words and then she could have charges press against him and have him arrested or even worse if he resisted, especially with the Wizard Saint, God Serena, being here. Surely, he couldn't take on the strongest mage in Ishgar. Jura himself said that he wouldn't stand a chance against him, so surely Romeo stood even less of a chance. Plus, if you added in the unwanted touching in the sleeping bag, she could even get him on sexual assault as well. Going off of the captain's treatment of Romeo earlier, he wouldn't question her one bit.

But then Romeo's words from the airship came back to her. Acnologia would not take something like that happening to him lying down. She could inadvertently start a war with her next words that could kill countless people and destroy entire cities. It could be the Magnolia's attack all over again, only much worse.

Finally, there was the fact that if Romeo got arrested, she wouldn't be able to get her rematch with him and that was unacceptable. She had to beat him, no, she had to grind him into the dust and shove it in his face. She had to prove to everyone that she was the better mage and he was inferior to her, especially after his little rant toward her in the airship. Only after he was lying down on the ground, battered and beaten while she was towering over him in triumph, only after she had proven once and for all that she was the superior slayer, only then would she not care what happens to him.

" _I have to train harder",_ she told herself, " _I have to beat him before the Grand Magic Games. I have to prove to everyone at the guild that I can take on other slayers."_

"He's not the friendliest guy to be around, but he hasn't made any threatening gestures toward me", she lied and she hopes to the gods on high that the Rune Knight couldn't see through it. The two stare at each other for what seemed like hours before Lahar simply scribble down more notes.

"One more question, how would you describe his style of fighting and magic?", Captain Lahar inquire.

"Deadly and restrain", immediately came out of Chelia's mouth.

"His style or his magic?"

"Both", Chelia started, "When I fought him the other day, at the beginning of our fight while I was using magic-infused attacks against him, he was merely using his hands and feet to battle me; there was no magic behind his attacks whatsoever. He only used his magic spells to block my own attacks and that was it. It wasn't until I got serious that he started using his magic more periodically. Even then, it almost felt like he was still holding back. He gave me a number of opportunities to surrender and even at the end of our fight, even though he looked as winded as I did, he was still ready to keep going."

She hated this. Chelia hated admitting something like this to anyone, let alone a Rune Knight's Captain. She hated admitting that Romeo got the upper hand on her in their first fight and that he probably wasn't even going one hundred percent. She could feel her blood boiling inside of her and she knew without a doubt that the only thing that could cool it down was Romeo's bloody face as her fists pound away at it.

Lahar took a few more notes before standing up, "Thank you for your time Miss Chelia, you're free to go."

"That was it?", Chelia wondered.

"Yes, it was just a few questions, nothing more", Lahar stated before coughing, "There is one more matter we would like your assistance it."

"And that is?"

"We have been informed by Jura-sama and Guild Master Macao of the arrangement you have with Romeo Conbolt in regards to Blue Pegasus, about paying off the debt you owe them", Lahar began.

"We were told by Guild Master Bob that we only had to do one job to complete that", Chelia informs him.

"Be that as it may, Lamia Scale, Blue Pegasus, and Fairy Tail, all seem to be in what the Rune Knights like to call an "unofficial alliance" with one another, aiding each other in jobs. Should you happen to partner up with Romeo Conbolt for another job here in the near-future, we would like you to notify us of any unusual behavior that he may exhibit."

….

…

"You want me to spy on him for you?", Chelia finally asks after a moment of silence.

"Spying is a very strong word for that would imply that there's a great risk for the person doing the spying should they be caught. Seeing how you are not a Rune Knight, I can't ask you to do that, only to observe him", Lahar says.

"Why not ask Eve to do it?", Chelia questions, remembering that the Snow Mage of Blue Pegasus was originally a member of the Rune Knights.

"Eve Team is out of the Rune Knights and has been for years. Even if I was to ask him, there's no guarantee he would agree to do this and the fact that Romeo Conbolt would probably know something was afoot, seeing how Eve's former occupation is public knowledge", Lahar explains, "But allow me to clarify, Miss Chelia, you're not being ordered to do this. No negative repercussions will come about should you not agree to do this."

Chelia looks at the man in front of her with wary eyes, " _I wonder if he already asked Jura-sama to do this?"_

**Inside the Guild Master's Office**

" _I was told I was meeting with God Serena, so who is this guy in full-plated armor sitting on my father's desk?",_ Romeo wondered as he stood in the doorway of the room, observing a man wearing what looks like a heavy-set of armor was currently occupied the Guild Master's desk, " _I'm surprised it can support him."_

The man had been looking over a sheet of paper when looks up and notices Romeo, "Ah, you're here. Now we can begin, please come in and take a seat."

The hairs on the back of Romeo's neck began to stand up and he wished to himself that Bana had come with him.

"I was told that I would be meeting with God Serena", Romeo said as he walked in.

"And you shall!", a voice screams out from Romeo's left side and the boy instantly spins to his right, drawing both his blades out in the process and ends his motion with one blade pointing toward the origin of the voice while the other was in a reverse grip close to his own body. The two Rune Knights guards at the door instantly bring their shields up and lower their spears, pointing them directly at Romeo and were about to move toward him when the man in question raises a hand.

"Enough! There is no need for such open display of hostility! The boy was merely startled by my presence!" the man who was dress in red, white, and black robes and had a scar on the bridge of his nose shouted as he stretches his arms outward as he looked to the heavens.

" _How did I not notice this guy when I walked in?",_ Romeo thought while still keeping his blades at the ready, " _You think I would have sensed the presence of one of the most powerful mages on the continent."_

The guards follow the order given to them and return to their post as the man at the desk coughs to get Romeo's attention. The boy briefly flickers his eyes over to him while still keeping his blade pointed at God Serena.

"I realize that God Serena's...introduction may have caught you off-guard and thus I see the need for you to have drawn your blades", he began, "But seeing how it was at mine as well as God Serena's request that you be allowed to keep your weapons, it would be most generous of you to sheath your blades."

Romeo's eyes rapidly go between the armored man and God Serena for what seems like forever before he slowly proceeds to put his short swords back in their sheath, but not wanting to fully let his guard down, he kept his hand on one of the handles. Both the man and God Serena noticed this but said nothing.

" _Not like it would make much of a difference, if they wanted me dead, I wouldn't see it coming, at least not fast enough to react",_ Romeo thought to himself, already knowing that he was at the mercy of these two men.

"I would ask again for you to take a seat, but it's clear as day that you wouldn't take me up on that offer", the armored man says.

"I wouldn't", Romeo confess.

"Very well then, moving on. First, allow me to introduce myself, I am Chief of the Cherry Blossom Holy Knight Squadron, Arcadios", he proudly proclaims.

" _That's one of the royal squadrons of King Toma, under his personal command no less",_ Romeo realizes, "I wasn't aware that the king of Fiore had taken interest in me."

"King Toma takes an interest in all of his subjects, especially those who have been through...difficult situations." Arcadios began while Romeo's eyes wander over to God Serena, who was merely leaning on the wall with his arms cross, "While yes, word has reached us that you're one of the personal dragon-slayers of Acnologia, you were still born and raised within the confines of the kingdom, so King Toma still considers you one of his precious subjects."

"That's awfully nice of him", Romeo points out as he returns his attention back to Arcadios, " _Also awfully nice of him to send one of his top lackeys here to lie to my face."_

"It is, but time is short, so I'll get straight to the point. Your presence here has placed the king in a most difficult situation as it has put a number of his loyal subjects on the edge and he would like to know your intentions if only to ease their minds. You seem to be a reasonable young man, surely you can see that his majesty is only doing his royal duty to his kingdom and all that reside within it", Arcadios explains.

" _This guy can't act to save his life, but seeing how they got me back into a corner, I guess I'll play along for now",_ Romeo tells himself, "Please relay to King Toma that my presence in Magnolia is nothing to be alarmed about as I am only here on personal matters that have nothing to do with my master."

Both Arcadios and God Serena were a little surprised to hear those words, but neither one showed it as Arcadios pressed on.

"Really, and what personal matters would that be?", he asked.

"Why, to help Fairy Tail reclaim its rightful place as the top magic guild in Fiore", Romeo stated, which wasn't a lie.

"Oh, does that mean you plan on entering this year Grand Magic Games?", Arcadios asks and waited with baited breath for the boy's answer. If one of the Four Cataclysm was going to be in Crocus on that fateful day, this could spell disaster for the kingdom.

"Hmmm, the thought has crossed my mind once or twice", Romeo admitted, "But seeing how that's my father call as the guild master and he has yet to say anything, it's up in the air right now. Until he comes to a decision, I'll just keep doing whatever jobs come my way to the best of my abilities."

Arcadios stares at Romeo with a watchful eye, as if looking for the slightest hint of a lie in his body language but could find none.

"I see if you don't mind telling me, how long would this "personal matter" of yours take you away from Acnologia's side?"

" _Done keeping up the charade and now getting straight to the point, are we?",_  Romeo muses before answering, "Honestly, I do not know. I could be at Fairy Tail for years or my master could call me back to his side as early as tomorrow. The choice is really all up to him, I merely just go where he tells me."

"Hmmm", Arcadios simply says before standing up, "I have one more thing to convey to you before I depart. His Majesty-"

Out of the corner of his eye, Romeo sees movement and instantly crouches down as his free hand moves to the second blade and prepares for a possible attack from God Serena. But to his surprise, he sees that the Wizard Saint was merely stretching his arm while sporting a grin as he stares straight at Romeo.

" _If I didn't know any better, I say he's playing games with me.",_ Romeo thought as he slowly returns to original posture. Arcadios at least had the sense to keep quiet while all this happen and the guards remain at their posts, only raising their shields this time before seeing that further actions were not needed.

"As I was saying, his majesty would like you to know that he will not tolerate any degree of violence done against his subjects. But his excellency is lenient and is aware of the fact that you may have to defend yourself from the more….unruly citizens of the country who may not take too kindly to your presence", Arcadios finished as he fixed Romeo with a steely gaze, "That being said, should you show us that you're no better than the dragon that you serve under and assault our citizens in an unprovoked manner, the Kingdom of Fiore will strike you down with all the forces it can bring to bear."

" _Wow, he said that as casually as someone discussing the weather",_ Romeo notes as Arcadios marches to the door, not even sparing the boy a glance as he goes by him. The youngest Apocalypse Dragon-Slayer merely watches the royal knight go out the room before turning his full attention back to the powerful mage who was still there. The mages had a stare-off that seem to last for hours like two tigers stalking around in a circle, waiting for the first one to make a move.

" _I'm alone in a room with one of the strongest human mages in all Ishgar; how did my day start off so well and end like this?",_ Romeo thought as he blinks.

The only problem was that when his eyelids went up and allowed him to see again, God Serena was gone.

" _Where did he go?!",_ Romeo panic as he moves to draw his blades, only to stop in mid-motion as two slender hands softly grip his shoulders from behind and a voice speaks directly into his ears.

"Aww, so you're the young dragon-slayer that has caused such a tremendous uproar over the past few weeks! Such an overwhelming aura you display, such brimming confidence, such immeasurable pride, you think you were the dragon king himself!", God Serena boom as his grip tightens around Romeo's shoulder and the boy could literally feel the man's hand slowly move inward toward his neck. Romeo tries to move but found himself unable to as a great, overbearing, pressure was exerting itself on him. He felt like he was ten thousand leagues under the ocean and was sinking even further with every passing moment. He couldn't move, he was struggling to breathe and finally, he got even oxygen to his brain to realize that it was God Serena's magic aura that was inflicting this punishment on him.

Within moments, Romeo finds himself going to his knees, the force pushing down on him increasing with every passing second and the fact that the man causing him to do this had a smile on his face didn't make things any better.

"I can already sense that your potential is vast! The odds are in your favor that in the future that your name will be one that resounds in all corners of the world!", God Serena rejoices before his lips contort into a sly smirk, "That is if you live long enough to make it that far."

Romeo realizes the meaning of his words and using sheer willpower, struggles to pull his blades, every inch that he draws exerting his muscles to the max, his limbs burning with pain.

"Such an indomitable will", God Serena states as he observes Romeo's effort, "It would seem Acnologia chose well in making you one of his dragon-slayers! But alas, you're dealing with me so….", he adds as his magic spiked.

Whatever magical pressure Romeo felt before was nothing compared to the impact of the Wizard Saint's magic now as his whole body slammed onto the floor, his eyes now leveled with the tips of God Serena's shoes.

"I suppose deposing of you now could prove beneficial to me. Why, I might be hail as a hero, known far and wide for taking out one the dragon king's Four Cataclysms. If I'm lucky, I might even draw out your master himself to come see me", the mage boasted as he lifted his shoe and hover it over Romeo's head. "It would take nothing more than a small exert of my power to end you here and now and all I have to do is get a new pair of shoes."

Romeo watches the shoe that was less than an inch from his head slowly move back.

"But alas, I was ordered not to harm you by the Magic Council, only to observe and gather information", he shrugs as he turns around, "Besides, you amuse me. It's too boring for me here in Ishgar since no one goes to war with anyone anymore and the dark guilds really don't pose a threat to me at all nowadays; perhaps you can cure of my boredom and give me something entertaining to watch."

He looks down at Romeo who was still flatten on the floor, "Stay safe, boy. I would hate to see you die before I lose interest in you", and he walks away out the door, summoning the two guards to follow him, leaving Romeo sprawl out on the ground. It was only after the sounds of marching footsteps had faded away that Romeo felt the weight instantly vanish and he finds himself gasping for air that suddenly tasted so sweet.

"Damn….it", Romeo gasps out as he slowly stands up, "It's been too long since I had to struggle to breathe like that."

**A Few Days Later**

"How are you holding up?", Bana asks as he hovers alongside Romeo as the two of them made their way down the Magnolia's main road during the afternoon.

"I could ask the same about you", Romeo grumbles without looking toward the exceed.

"There is nothing wrong about getting dominated by an opponent who is stronger, faster, and more experience than you, you know that right?", Bana said, "His magic aura was simply too much for you to handle."

"To deal with, yes, to handle, no", Romeo counter, "I been in Acnologia's presence when he is full-on angry and his magic aura caused me to pass out. I was still conscious with God Serena."

"Still you were out of your league against him", Bana continued.

"Pretty crappy words if you're trying to cheer me up", Romeo mumbles. He had been in a grouchy mode ever since the incident with God Serena and there was nothing Bana could do to cheer him up. The only upside was because his father and the others were being "detain" in the mayor's office, none of them were at the guild hall the other day and Romeo has yet to inform them of the incident. In fact, Bana was the only other person who was aware of it happening and he suggested that Romeo not report this to Acnologia due to the fact that the dragon would more than likely kill Romeo for appearing weak. A surprising notion, Romeo thought, from the guy who was nothing but loyal to the dragon, but Romeo had to admit that he had a point. Acnologia would've not taken to kindly to Romeo easily being put down. He probably would have destroyed Magnolia and Romeo in response to it. Both Bana and Romeo knew that it was only a matter of time before word of this confrontation reached the dragon king's ears, but they figure by then they could come up with a reasonable explanation by then.

" _Though it almost seems like God Serena wanted to bring forth Acnologia's wrath, almost as if he was begging for it. But why, surely he doesn't think he can defeat him, does he?",_ Romeo ponders as he walks down the empty streets, happy that no one else was around to see his sour mood, " _Thank the gods everyone else is either at the guild hall or out on-"_

Romeo stops in mid-stride as he realizes something….

"Bana, today is market day, right?", he asks as he eyes darted in all direction. He notices people everywhere in their homes closing their windows shutter and he could hear the turning of locks on all the doors, " _Well, that's not good."_

"That it is, the busiest day of the week", Bana replies as he too goes on guard.

Yet, there isn't a single person out today, not even a vendor stand." Romeo states as his hand with on one of his blade handles, "What does that sound like to you?"

"Sounds like something big is about to happen", Bana concludes.

"How are your wounds?"

"Still healing, unfortunately, but I'm not leaving you here", Bana tells him.

"Then how about you-", Romeo started before notices a figure coming toward him from down the street in front of them. It looked like a woman with long, bright pink hair which was tied up on top of her head in two large buns was anything to go off of. The woman has a figure complimented with peach skin which would have sent his father and Wakaba to the hospital, along with beauty mark underneath both her eyes. She was a long, slightly loose white kimono with that revealed a good amount of cleavage, enough that even Romeo started to slightly blush as his eyes glance over it.

" _I been like this ever since that cave incident with Chelia",_ he thought for a moment as he now saw that the woman was holding a pink oil-paper umbrella as she strolls toward him and last but not least, there was the….

" _Why are there Sakura petals floating around her?",_ Romeo wonder as she stops a good couple of feet away from him and Romeo could see her green eyes looking at him. But what put him off the most was the smile on her face. It was almost angelic.

"Excuse me, young man. Do you know what time it is?", the woman asks as she lowers the umbrella to the ground

Romeo briefly looks up at the sky and the location of the sun, though he had never left his hilt, "I believe it is exactly high noon", he replied, " _Which makes the fact that no one is out on the more alarming."_

"Thank you, young man", the woman replies.

Out of the corner of his eye Romeo sees something flash….

**CLANK!**

Romeo draws his blade just in time to block a slash to his neck as he now sees the woman had discarded the top half of her umbrella and was now wielding a s _hikomi-zue_  while still keeping that smile.

"A sword cane, huh?", Romeo says as he struggles to hold back the sword edge.

"I must say, you are faster than I expected. You have no idea how pleased I am with this revelation", the woman says as she withdraws her blade and flips backward, landing a good distance away, "Perhaps you shall prove a worthy foe for me after all despite your age"

"I'll do my best", Romeo says as he draws out his second blade and Bana flies to the top of a nearby roof, "Though a name would be nice."

"I am Ikaruga of Trinity Raven and I have been hired to see you take your last breath today!", the woman declares.

"An assassin? Well, I would be lying if I said I haven't run into your kind before", Romeo confesses, "Though if you would be so kind to tell me who send you."

"It's considered highly unprofessional to reveal one's client's information in this line of work", Ikaruga began, "But seeing how you are one of the few people to ever block my first strike, I suppose that if you keep me entertain, I could tell you a bit before I send your soul to the afterlife. But be warned, the answer may be not the one you want to hear on your way to judgment."

Romeo rolls his eyes at the statement, "Well, that's ominous as hell."

"Now come young one. Let's see if you are fated to die on your feet or bleed out on the ground", as Ikaruga charges forward with a straight thrust, the rapid movement of her feet making them become a blur. Romeo parries the sword with one of his blades, directing it away from his face while using his second blade to slices at the hand that was holding it; Ikaruga reacts by simply letting go of her sword and dropping her hand. As Romeo's strike passes harmlessly through the air, Ikaruga uses her other hand to once again take control of the sword and spins around with it above her head and attempts to deliver a downward slash on top of Romeo's undefended head.

**CLANK!**

The pebbles laying on the ground around the combatants are sent flying outwards by the sheer force of Ikaruga's strike as Romeo protects himself by forming an x-shape with his blades and now found himself in a death struggle with the assassin.

"I must say...", Ikaruga laughed, "The fact that you have survived this long is truly miraculous! That's not evening counting the fact that your blades are able to withstand my strikes; why, they are more than likely the real reason you're even still breathing!"

"Trying to hurt my self-esteem now, are ya?", Romeo quips.

"Just saying that you're a very lucky boy", Ikaruga states.

"Thanks… I guess", Romeo grunted as he struggles to maintain his position. He felt the sword getting lower and lower to his face despite his valiant defense. As the sweat from his brow cause by both fear and exertion started to get into his eyes and sting them, he felt Ikaruga suddenly withdraw her sword and make a swipe at his feet which he avoids by jumping her and delivering a double drop-kick to her gut. Using the woman as a platform, he jumps once again only this time back-flipping away to a safe distance, landing with grace and bringing his blades to the ready in a reverse-grip stance.

Ikaruga lets out a breath as she patted her gut and then sheath her sword, "Well, well. It would seem that you're somewhat skilled in weapons and hand-to-hand combat. Most remarkable."

But Romeo didn't reply as he opens his mouth and a swirl of bluish white light began to appear in it…

" _ **Apocalypse Dragon's Roar!"**_  He screams as he releases his deadly attack. A beam of light now speeding its way toward a still-calm Ikaruga who merely took in the sight, before swiftly unsheathing her sword.

" _ **Yasha's Empty Flash",**_ is heard as a series is lightning quick slashes are unleashed by Ikaruga and Romeo and Bana could only watch in shock as the powerful spell is reduced to a massive body of shimmering fragments before fading away into nothing.

"Aw, crap", is all Romeo could say as Ikaruga began to speak.

"Did you know that the that was known as your "Queen of the Fairies" was my first and only defeat?", she asks as sheathe her sword.

" _She fought Erza?"_ Romeo thought.

"My reputation of invincibly was shattered that night in the Tower of Heaven, along with Trinity Raven's reputation of never failing a job", she continued as Romeo notice that her once smiling face was slipping, "It's the reason I took on this job, despite you being beneath my skill. I wanted revenge, pure and simple."

Romeo remains silence as Ikaruga hefts her blade onto her shoulder.

"But don't be mistaken, killing you won't give me the full satisfaction of revenge. The dragon you serve took that away from me seven years ago when he killed Erza on that little island of yours, but not much I can do about that", Ikaruga made known, "But seeing how you are the currently the strongest member of Fairy Tail."

"I think that's a bit of a stretch", Romeo chide in.

"Oh, aren't you the modest little boy?", Ikaruga laughed as she brought her sword to her side, "Is that what you tell yourself so you don't feel superior to your fellow guild members?"

Romeo now found himself instinctively bringing his short swords up in a defensive posture, protecting both his head and torso. Every one of his hairs was standing up straight as he started to feel magic beginning to radiate off Ikaruga, and more importantly, her sword.

"We were humiliated, outcast within the very guild we help to create. According to our guild master, Vladus, we were lucky he didn't kill us right then and there. It was disgraceful. We were demoted to the lowest levels of the guild, only able to take on the cheapest jobs around until Vladus said otherwise", Ikaruga said as her eyes became steel and Romeo felt a chill go down his spine, "For years afterward, I punish myself in advancing my sword techniques, perfecting them to the utmost level. And when the rest of Trinity Raven and I demand that we have our original rank restore and Vladus refuse…."

Ikaruga pause for a moment as a small smile appear on her lips, "Well, let just say that in few moments, you will have the honor of being killed by Death's Head Caucus' second guild master."

Romeo brings his two blades together and shouts the words, " _ **Duo in carne una!",**_ and a bright white light emits, engulfing him and the surrounding area. Moments later, when it fades away, Romeo is standing there wielding a blacken full-length scimitar with both hands gripped around its handle.

"Do you consider yourself a swordsman now?", Ikaruga smiled, but Romeo felt no warmth behind it.

Romeo merely shrugs.

"Okay then, I'll play along with you for a little while longer. I have nowhere else to be at the moment", Ikaruga shrugs as well before drawing her sword, "Tell me, what is the name of your sword or swords if I may ask?"

A raised eyebrow is Romeo's response, "Name? I don't name my blades."

"Huh, that's sad to hear", Ikaruga admits, "Oh well, that is your choice. Anyway, this masterpiece was crafted from the finest blacksmith on the continent after my Mugetsu-Ryu was destroyed by your Erza at the conclusion of our battle, it knows no equal and its name is  _Kuroi-Kaze."_

Romeo's eyes widen in disbelief, for a split second, he drops his guard in order to face-palm himself. "Please tell me that doesn't mean what I think it means."

"It means…." Ikaruga started before getting interrupted.

"I know what it means, that was rhetorical!", Romeo shouts as he readies himself, " I'm just wondering why fate recently has had a tendency to throw pink-haired ladies with an affinity for black winds into my life, it's starting to get annoying!"

**Preview for Chapter 11**

"You know, Mest or Doranbolt, whatever your traitorous ass goes by nowadays", Romeo says as he put his feet up on the Rune Knight captain's desk, "I have gained considerable knowledge over the years about all sorts of different types of magic. Lost magic, ancient magic, the works.

Mest stays silent as Romeo continues reminiscing.

"But before I carry with that topic, let me tell you another thing about me. I can't recall many things about my mother. I faintly remember her face, her voice, but that's about it, and for the life of me, I never knew why", Romeo says, "She left when I was about five or six years old. Around the same time you "join" Fairy Tail, if I'm remembering correctly.

"What does this have to do with me?", Mest finally speaks.

"Everything actually, once I put two and two together", Romeo replied, "You see, one of the magic that struck my interest was the magic known as  _ **Memory Control.**_

Mest's eyes widen at this statement, something that did not go unnoticed by Romeo.

"Oh, I see I got your full attention now. That's good, that's good. For you see, the average none user of  _ **Memory Control**_  thinks that you can easily just implant certain memories inside people and no harm will come of it. But that isn't the case for the actual users of the magic", Romeo explains as he stood up, "No, no, for they know the true secret of  _ **Memory Control.**_ I'm sure you know it as well."

...

...

...

"They know", Romeo started up again, "That you have to take a memory out,  **then**  insert a new one in its place, in order to ensure that the person's original memories and the new one don't contradict one another."

Mest's breath got caught up in his throat as Romeo moved ever closer to him, his hands going for his blades. He watches in paralyzed fear as Romeo drew both of his short swords out of their sheath.

"It does explain a lot though. To successfully infiltrate Fairy Tail, you had to make sure  **everyone's** mind were rearranged so it looked like you were there the whole time, including little kids like Lindsay and I", Romeo says his voice getting ever colder, "So tell me...Mest, did you think you were doing me a favor when you took the memories of my mother out of my head?!"


End file.
